From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishself-ruleˌself-ˈrule noun [uncountable] PGwhen a country or part of a country is governed by its own citizens
Examples from the Corpus
self-rule• In the town of Diyarbakir around 5,000 protestors demanding self-rule clashed with police on April 9.• Not all Athenians subscribed to that principle and agreed with the idea of democratic self-rule.• Yet somehow the delusion has taken hold that a commitment to democratic self-rule means coaxing apathetic numbskulls into voting.• He thereby joined their experiment in self-rule.• But in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, self-rule is a new force still being tested.• It won self-rule two decades ago after a long love-hate relationship as a legal ward of the federal government. 