The clash of political phenomena: the self-determination of the people and the territorial integrity of the state

The article deals with the clash of the principle of the territorial integrity of the state and the right of peoples to self-determination. In fact, both these phenomena bear a certain internal contradiction. Therefore, it is not a dialectical contradiction, when two equal in general and equally significant origins encounter, when development takes place in the confrontation and struggle between them. The political side of the right to self-determination presupposes for the people the right to unite or merge with a sovereign independent state. However, if such an association or merger has taken place, this can lead to the formation of a national minority in this state, that is, the transformation of the «people» into a minority. The question is natural: does the people who became a national minority lose the right to self-determination in this connection?