The lesson from Catalonia: we need better principles on who has the right to self-determination and how

The standoff between Spain and Catalonia raises fundamental questions about the rights of citizens to self-determination, and how demands for separatism or greater autonomy should be dealt with by a nation state. Michael Keating writes that the Catalan crisis has emerged from a series of missed opportunities, a lack of dialogue between the two sides, and a disappearing centre ground. He argues that the time may have come for some better European and international principles on who has the right to self-determination and how.