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Background
to the Study
The term recognition‖ implies a
process whereby a person or an entity admits to the existence or the being of
another person, entity or state of affairs. The Chambers Twentieth Century
Dictionary defines the concept as a sign, token or indication of acknowledgment
of a thing or a state of being in relation to nation state.1
State recognition is one of the oldest
practice in international relations, and one of the most vexed concepts in
international law since the middle ages, political communities have interacted
with each other as sovereign, territorial states under an accepted system of
rules. Determining which entity is to be recognized as state subject to these
rules has hence been a basic component of international relations. As such, it
is one of the most common discussed topics in the international law
literatures.2 Recognition of statehood grants an entity international legal
personality and binds it to comfort it according to the rules established by
international law in its relations with other states and peoples. At the same
time, it makes the entity eligible to enter into treaties and alliances with
other states as well as to participate in the development and enforcement of
international law. Most importantly recognition is an affirmation of an
entity‘s right to territorial sovereignty and integrity and its right to
exercise coercive jurisdiction within this territory.
The right and powers attached to
statehood make it desirable for a political entities to attain such a status,
at the same time the expectation that each new state will abide by the rule of
international law makes it desirable to include as many qualified political
entities as possible in so far as this will further the goals of peace and
stability.3 While in conformity with the above the Monte Video Convention of
1933 made a preliminary attempt to codify specific descriptive criteria for
statehood thus:
(1) Permanent Population
(2) Define territory
(3) Functional government able to
control the territory
(4) Capacity to enter into relation
with other state voluntarily
Together these four requirements
defined a state and presumably any entity aspiring independent statehood that
met these criteria would automatically be regarded as a state under
international law.
However and unfortunately the present
practice of recognition is not in conformity with the above criteria. According
to the present recognition an entity is considered a state to the extent that
other state recognized it as such, since new state cannot exercise right and
obligation against state that do not recognize it. For example taking into
consideration the case of Palestine, applying the Montevideo criteria for
statehood, it becomes clear that Palestine should be considered a state and
also be recognized, as it has a permanent population, concentrated in a defined
territory, a functional representative authority (P.A), and has already entered
into various agreements with other sovereign entities. However, as was already
noted, its statehood bid is bound to be frustrated unless Israel and USA choose
to alter their policy of non-recognition. Regardless of whether or not the U.S
and Israel are right in denying recognition it is clear that recognition in
this case is a matter of policy discretion from part of the states on both
sides of the controversy. As this example shows recognition is often an
opportunity for powerful states to express their approval or disapproval of a
political entity, and hence recognition end up bringing a high selective and
strategic policy decision.
Moreover, recognition does not tend to
a single form. There is need to establish a generally acceptable form of
recognition. Blix states, ―Recognition being an institute that has existed for
a long time, it may not be unreasonable to assume that it has some political
function in international relations or several that is not merely an empty
fetish. This function should also tell sometimes about the way the institutions
operate‖4 Against the above backdrop, therefore, this dissertation seeks to
discuss the procedures of implementation of the criteria for state recognition
in international law to identify reasons for the lack of exhaustiveness of
Monte Video Convention criteria, and irregular practices within the
international community which may eventually escalate conflict among states.
TOPIC: THE CONCEPT OF STATE RECOGNITION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email
Delivery: Email
Number of Pages: 80
Price: 3000 NGN
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