Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Contested States in World Politics pp 7–28Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Confirmed versus Contested States

  • Chapter

Abstract

The defining feature of contested states is the internationally disputed nature of their purported statehood, manifested in their lack of de jure recognition. Although serious, the deficit in recognition is not the same for all contested states. In most cases their very right of statehood is challenged by the international community, resulting in no formal recognition at all or recognition by only a small number of established states. In a few instances contested states’ right of statehood finds wide acceptance and may even be endorsed by the UN, but the realization of the right is internationally contested. But whatever differences among them, all contested states are denied conventional international recognition; this means they do not have collective recognition (typically through the UN) of both their right to exist as sovereign states and their actual existence as such. Conversely, they all experience collective non-recognition in the sense of being deliberately excluded from UN membership. This leaves contested states in a rather abnormal situation because the vast majority of contemporary states were accorded de jure recognition on gaining independence and accepted into the ranks of confirmed states without difficulty. The small group of aspirant states that has been turned away by those on the inside find themselves condemned to a twilight existence at the margins of the international community.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Joshua Castellino, International Law and Self-determination: The Interplay of the Politics of Territorial Possession with Formulations of Post-Colonial ‘National’ Identity, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague, 2000, pp.77–89;

    Google Scholar 

  2. Martin Dixon, Textbook on International Law, 4th edition, Blackstone Press, London, 2000, p.105.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Malcolm N Shaw, International Law, 5th edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, p.178;

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Thomas J Biersteker, ‘State, sovereignty and territory’, in Walter Carlsnaes et al (eds), Handbook of International Relations, Sage, London, 2002, p.162.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gianfranco Poggi, The State: Its Nature, Development and Prospects, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1990, p.26.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Quoted by Chris Brown et al (eds), International Relations in Political Thought: Texts from the Ancient Greeks to the First World War, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p.364.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Rainer Bauböck, ‘Why stay together? A pluralist approach to secession and federation’, in Will Kymlicka & Wayne Norman (eds), Citizenship in Diverse Societies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000, p.366.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Quoted by Alan James, Sovereign Statehood: The Basis of International Society, Allen & Unwin, London, 1986, p.2.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Vereinte Nationen, Vol. 56 (1), February 2008, pp.44–6; Jorri Duursma, Fragmentation and the International Relations of Micro-States: Self-Determination and Statehood, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, pp.133–42.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Martin Dixon, p.108; James Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979, p.37.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ian S Lustick, Unsettled States, Disputed Lands: Britain and Ireland, France and Algeria, Israel and the West Bank-Gaza, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1993, p.3.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Elmer Plischke, Microstates in World Affairs: Policy Problems and Options, American Enterprise for Public Policy Research, Washington DC, 1977, p.ii.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rein Muellerson, Ordering Anarchy: International Law in International Society, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 2000, p.165.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Thomas J Biersteker, p.165; Jean-Marie Guéhenno, The End of the Nation-State, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2000, pp.8–9.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gertrude E Schroeder, ‘On the economic viability of new nation-states’, Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 45(2), Winter 1992, pp.549–74.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Rik Coolsaet, ‘The transformation of diplomacy at the threshold of the new millennium’, in Christer Jönsson & Richard Langhorne (eds), Diplomacy, Vol. 3, Sage Publications, London, 2004, p.4.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Alberto Alesina & Enrico Spolaore, The Size of Nations, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 2005, p.198.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Daniel S Papp, Contemporary International Relations: Frameworks for Understanding, 2nd edition, Macmillan, New York, 1988, p.456.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Samuel P Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1968, p.1.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Sheila Harden (ed.), Small is Dangerous: Micro States in a Macro World, Frances Pinter, London, 1985, p.17.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Robert H Jackson, Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Third World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990, pp.24–5.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Thomas M Franck, ‘The emerging right to democratic governance’, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 86(1), January 1992 , pp.46–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Also see Morton H Halperin & Kristin Lomasney, ‘Toward a global guarantee clause’, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 4(3), July 1993, pp.60–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Donald L Horowitz, ‘The cracked foundations of the right to secede’, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 14(2), April 2003, pp. 13–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. John Dugard, International Law: A South African Perspective, Juta, Cape Town, 1994, p.68.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Quoted by Michael R Fowler & Julie M Bunck, Law, Power, and the Sovereign State: The Evolution and Application of the Concept of Sovereignty, Pennsylvania State University Press, Pennsylvania, 1995, p.10.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Nkambo Mugerwa, ‘Subjects of international law’, in Max Sorensen (ed.), Manual of Public International Law, Macmillan, London, 1968, p.253;

    Google Scholar 

  28. Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, Macmillan, London, 1977, p.8; Thomas J Biersteker, p.168.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  29. Quoted by Ralph Pettman, World Politics: Rationalism and Beyond, Palgrave, Houndmills, 2001, p.148.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  30. Bruce Russett et al, World Politics: The Menu for Choice, 7th edition, Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, 2004, p.56;

    Google Scholar 

  31. FH Hinsley, Sovereignty, CA Watts, London, 1966, p.26; Alan James, p.3 ; Gianfranco Poggi, p.21.

    Google Scholar 

  32. KJ Holsti, Taming the Sovereigns: Institutional Change in International Politics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, pp. 135–6.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  33. Stephen D Krasner, ‘Problematic sovereignty’, in Krasner (ed.), Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities, Columbia University Press, New York, 2001, pp.6–7, 10–11.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Frederick L Schuman, International Politics: The Western State System and the World Community, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958, p.67.

    Google Scholar 

  35. KJ Holsti, pp.42, 114, original emphasis. Also see Stephen D Krasner, ‘Economic interdependence and independent statehood’, in Robert H Jackson & Alan James (eds), States in a Changing World: A Contemporary Analysis, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1993, pp.318–19.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Stephen D Krasner, Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1999, p.4.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Joshua Castellino, pp.97–9; Herbert Dittgen, ‘World without borders: Reflections on the future of the nation-state’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 34(1), Winter 1999, p.163.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Jan Donkers & Minka Nijhuis, Burma behind the Mask, Burma Centrum Nederland, Amsterdam, 1996, pp.119–20.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Robert Jackson, Sovereignty: Evolution of an Idea, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007, pp.10–11.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Robert H Jackson, pp.24, 29; Christopher Clapham, ‘Degrees of statehood’, Review of International Studies, Vol. 24(2), April 1998, pp. 143–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Gerard Kreijen, ‘The transformation of sovereignty and African independence: No shortcuts to statehood’, in Kreijen (ed.), State, Sovereignty, and International Governance, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002, p.89.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  42. Barry Bartmann, ‘Political realities and legal anomalies: Revisiting the politics of international recognition’, in Tozun Bahcheli et al (eds), De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty, Routledge, London, 2004, pp.12–14.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Ivan Shearer, ‘International legal relations between Australia and Taiwan: Behind the façade’, Australian Year Book of International Law, Vol. 21, 2000, p.113. Also see Martin Dixon, pp.120–1.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Olivier Ribbelink, ‘State succession and the recognition of states and governments’, in Jan Klabbers et al (eds), State Practice regarding State Succession and Issues of Recognition: The Pilot Project of the Council of Europe, Kluwer Law International, The Hague, 1999, pp.44, 78.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Steve Allen, ‘Statehood, self-determination and the “Taiwan question”’, Asian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 9, 2000, p.204.

    Google Scholar 

  46. JES Fawcett, The Law of Nations, Allen Lane, London, 1968, p.41.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Quoted by Guido Acquaviva, ‘Subjects of international law: A power-based analysis’, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 38(2), March 2005, p.353.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Ersun N Kurtulus, State Sovereignty: Concept, Phenomenon and Ramifications, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, 2005, p.125.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  49. Michael Schoiswohl, ‘De facto regimes and human rights obligations — the twilight zone of public international law?’, Austrian Review of International and European Law, Vol. 6, 2001, pp.45–90.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Philip C Jessup, The Birth of Nations, Columbia University Press, New York, 1974, p.305; James Crawford, p.129.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Thomas D Grant, ‘Hallstein revisited: Unilateral enforcement of regimes of nonrecognition since the two Germanies’, Stanford Journal of International Law, Vol. 36(2), Summer 2000, p.221.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Mo Shen, Japan in Manchuria: An Analytical Study of Treaties and Documents, publisher not mentioned, Manila, 1960, p.300;

    Google Scholar 

  53. Philip C Jessup, The Birth of Nations, Columbia University Press, New York, 1974, pp.306, 334.

    Google Scholar 

  54. John J Stremlau, The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1977, pp.127, 141.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Scott Pegg; Tozun Bahcheli et al (eds); Dov Lynch, Engaging Eurasia’s Separatist States: Unresolved Conflicts and De Facto States, United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington DC, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Charles King, ‘The benefits of ethnic war: Understanding Eurasia’s unrecognized states’, World Politics, Vol. 53(4), July 2001, p.525.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Christopher Clapham, ‘Degrees of statehood’, Review of International Studies, Vol. 24(2), April 1998, p.144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Pål Kølsto, ‘The sustainability and future of unrecognized quasi-states’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 43(6), 2006, pp.723–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Samy Cohen, The Resilience of the State: Democracy and the Challenge of Globalisation, Hurst, London, 2003, p.20.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Ian S Spears, ‘States-within-states: An introduction to their empirical attributes’, in Paul Kingston & Spears (eds), States-within-States: Incipient Political Entities in the Post-Cold War Era, Palgrave, Houndmills, 2004, pp.16–17.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Jacques deLisle, ‘Law’s special answers to the cross-Strait sovereignty question’, Orbis, Vol. 46(4), Fall 2002, p.741.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Montserrat Guibernau, Nations without States: Political Communities in a Global Age, Polity Press, Cambridge, 2000, pp.1–2.

    Google Scholar 

  63. National Geographic, Atlas of the World, 8th edition, Washington DC, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Johannesburg, South Africa

    Deon Geldenhuys (Professor of Politics)

Authors
  1. Deon Geldenhuys
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2009 Deon Geldenhuys

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Geldenhuys, D. (2009). Confirmed versus Contested States. In: Contested States in World Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230234185_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation