PROF Matthew Craven mc7@soas.ac.uk
Dean of Faculty of Law & Social Sciences
Statehood, Self-Determination and Recognition
Craven, Matthew; Parfitt, Rose
Authors
Rose Parfitt
Contributors
Malcolm Evans
Editor
Abstract
The idea that international law’s primary function is to regulate the relations among States has long been axiomatic. Yet this veils a longstanding problem. In one direction, the existence of a society of independent States appears a necessary presupposition—something that has to precede the identification of rules of international law, produced through the mutual interaction of its members. In another, however, States are clearly products of international law themselves, whose status would have no meaning in the absence of a prior set of rules to determine which political communities can rightfully claim the prerogatives of sovereignty. This defining paradox has shaped key debates concerning the character of statehood (whether factual or normative), the implications of self-determination (whether determined or determining), of recognition (whether declaratory or constitutive), and beyond. These are not merely abstract, theoretical debates. On the contrary, it was during the process in which European imperial control was established over the Americas and much of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific that the model of the European nation-State came to be defined and exported as the principal mode of political organization for all peoples everywhere in the world. This prompts refl ection. Why has the normative ‘pull’ (and material ‘push’) of an institution whose origins lie in the very specific historical, geographical,and cultural context of sixteenth-century Western Europe, proved so irresistible? What, if anything, changed with the emergence of the right of ‘all peoples’ to self-determination in the mid-twentieth century? In an era of acute transnational inequality, instability, and violence, what can explain the continued enthusiasm for ‘secession’ as an antidote to the pathologies of statehood?
Citation
Craven, M., & Parfitt, R. (2024). Statehood, Self-Determination and Recognition. In M. Evans (Ed.), International Law. 6th edition (206-247). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780192848642.003.0008
Publication Date | May 20, 2024 |
---|---|
Deposit Date | Jun 2, 2024 |
Publicly Available Date | May 21, 2124 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Pages | 206-247 |
Book Title | International Law. 6th edition |
ISBN | 9780192848642 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780192848642.003.0008 |
Files
This file is under embargo until May 21, 2124 due to copyright reasons.
Contact outputs@soas.ac.uk to request a copy for personal use.
You might also like
Traditions of Equality and Economic and Social Rights
(2023)
Book Chapter
Pakistan's Cold War(s) and International Law
(2019)
Book Chapter
Parallel Worlds: Cold War Division Space
(2019)
Book Chapter
Downloadable Citations
About SOAS Research Online
Administrator e-mail: outputs@soas.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2025
Advanced Search