LESSON 12 - STATEHOOD

For the 12th lecture in this lecture series, we will be exploring the subject of statehood. At the end of this lecture, we will have addressed three issues. The meaning of statehood, its importance in international law, and theories of statehood. So the first issue, what is the meaning of statehood? When we say state, it may conjure the idea of the regional units of a country. For example, Punjab state in India, or the state of Arizona in the United States, or even Lagos state in Nigeria, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Well, that's fine because that's also correct. But the notion of states differ under international law. As we addressed in our seventh lecture on the subject of international law, we indicated that states are the primary subject of international law, possessing legal personality, rights, and obligations. So states here are indicative of what we might refer to when we think about countries. Having stated the obvious, what then is a state? The international law conditions for defining a state is stipulated in Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States. And it says, the states as a person of international law shall possess the following qualifications. One, a permanent population. Two, a defined territory. Three, a government. And four, capacity to enter into relations with other states. When all of these factors have been met, irrespective of how many regional entities exist under the umbrella of this state, the whole entity is deemed a state or is said to have attained statehood under international law. According to Article 2 of the Montevideo Convention, such entities constitute a sole person in the eyes of international law. Briefly, we expand on the four factors that define a state. A, a permanent population. These connote the aggregates of individuals with a common allegiance. In addition to having a common allegiance, there has to be some level of permanence. The religious and ethnic makeup of the population is inconsequential for determining if this criterion has been met. What is important, therefore, to meet this criterion is the existence of a common allegiance and permanence of the population. Territory. A defined territory. This criterion speaks to the capacity to exercise full control and governmental power over some territory. International law does not prescribe a rule for what that would look like in terms of maximum or minimum area. That means, the state size is of no consequence to the status of statehood, so long as the threshold requirement of control over a defined territory, no matter how small, is established. To the next criterion, government. This criterion speaks to the competence to govern a territory. The presence of an effective government is essential to a claim for statehood. This becomes an essential link between the criteria population and territory. Generally speaking, the extent of the exercise of governmental power, its ability to exercise such powers with respect to a defined territory, and a permanent population is the reference required for establishing a claim of statehood. Capacity to enter into legal relations. Arguably, this factor may be viewed more from the prism of consequence rather than criteria. Arguably, this factor may be viewed more from the prism of consequence rather than criterion. It is also the most difficult to define. So, we can say that the capacity to enter into legal relations is a consequence of being a state. And so, this is often perceived as a reference to the independence of this political entity that we're trying to define. Now, we'll address the importance of statehood in international law. So, statehood is essential because it tends to the distribution of rights and obligations under international law. We can say that it is not a right in and of itself, but it distributes rights that are consequence to statehood. And so, statehood is a form of standing. It is a status. Next up, theories of statehood. We have so far identified what the Montevideo criteria for defining statehood is under international law. However, this criteria for determining statehood under international law has undergone some intense debates, mainly along two doctrinal parts, the declaratory and constitutive theories of statehood. The declaratory theory emphasizes that the satisfaction of the Montevideo criteria confers statehood on a state and that recognition by other states is purely declaratory. The argument against the declaratory theory is that it does not account for state practice. For example, the case of the Moldavian territory of Transnistria may suggest to us what this may look like in terms of state practice. The argument is that the declaratory theory faults us here, where political entities have arguably met all the Montevideo criteria and yet have not been deemed states under international law. On the other hand, the constitutive theory conceptualizes statehood in terms of the recognition an entity enjoys from other states as the exclusive determinant of statehood. This theory therefore fails to account for the fact that while a political entity may receive recognition, they may in fact not receive the status of statehood. This is, for instance, the situation for Palestine. While the Palestinian Liberation Organization, PLO, has received at least 122 recognitions out of the 193 member states of the United Nations, it is still yet to be deemed a state. On the other hand, we can see how recognition of Israel has conferred on its statehood and even allowed Israel to join the United Nations despite the fact that since it declared independence in 1948, there have been territorial disputes and thus may not fit into the criteria of having a defined territory. Just to recap, we have stated that international law operates mainly on a state-to-state basis. We have itemized the criteria to be established in a claim for statehood, but more so we have also addressed the fact that these criteria are not without their limitation and we have provided some examples within international law where the criteria fall shut. So I want to say thank you so very much for joining in and remember to like, share, subscribe, leave your comments in the comment section below and hit the notification button so that you are notified when there's a new video. Thank you.