Abstract
The Kashmir conflict is the oldest unsolved conflict on the United Nations Security Council agenda. The conflict consists of a territorial issue between India, Pakistan, China and the often omitted Kashmiri people. Where India asserts its claim for Kashmir due to the Instrument of Accession, Pakistan claims the right to the Kashmir territory through its Muslim majority, and China aims to maintain a relatively calm status quo where it can preserve its own one-fifth of the Kashmiri territory. Per contra, the Kashmiri people wish to secure their right to a plebiscite and through this ensure their right to (internal) self-determination. This thesis analyses the current understanding and interpretation of the principle of self-determination, dividing it into two expressions of internal and external self-determination. The next part is devoted to studying a number of influential and critical jurisprudents concerning the right to self-determination, allowing it an original understanding. However, due to the unwillingness of India and China to invoke an international third party, and Pakistan’s inability to do so, this thesis proposes to explore other possibilities of resolution. This situation in Kashmir provides an opportunity for regional institutions to increase their role in peace-making by developing the norm of internal self-determination.