The national and international faces of federalism -- Self-determination of peoples as United Nations principle : historical roots and contemporary international law/municipal (constitutional) law antinomies -- Emergence of states in classical international law -- The United Nations Charter and admission of states, and also their exclusion -- The United Nations Charter principle of territorial integrity of states : the Uti Possidetis Doctrine as element in state succession -- Federalism and constitutional pluralism as self-determination options for plural-ethnic States : the different faces of federalism in comparative constitutional law --Law and politics and the dialectical unfolding of the self-determination principle -- Excursus - failed states : the trial-and-error of contemporary exercises in constitution-making and nation-building.