Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T15:21:46.760Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Durability of Parastates: Declarative Statehood in the Absence of Constitutive Sovereignty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2020

Michael Rossi
Michael Rossi*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Long Island University Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article assesses the characteristics of the parastate; a territorial entity that operates outside the formal structures of international law and sovereign recognition. The primary obstacle for parastates transforming declarative statehood into constitutive sovereignty is the nature of their creation, which is seen as a violation of another state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Parastates are thus prevented from becoming equal members of the international community with access to and decision-making in international organizations and governing bodies. Left outside these groups, parastates remain disputed territories dependent on patron state sponsorship and blocked from improving their status by international actors that deny sovereign recognition. Despite these limitations, parastates have a noted record of endurance that can last decades as long as the international status quo prevents the host state from regaining control of the contested territory. This article concludes that while options for ending frozen conflicts of parastates are not impossible, they are extremely costly and highly risky. Without decisive diplomatic and military leverage favoring the host state, parastates will continue to endure for the foreseeable future.

Keywords

parastatessovereigntyfrozen conflictconflict resolutionsecession
Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 48 , Special Issue 1: Special Issue on the Emergence and Resilience of Parastates , January 2020 , pp. 24 - 41
Copyright
© Association for the Study of Nationalities 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Liam. 2010. “Reintegrating Unrecognized States: Internationalizing Frozen Conflicts,” in Unrecognized States in the International System, edited by Caspersen, Nina and Stansfield, Gareth, 183–206. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Arieff, Alexis. 2013. Crisis in Mali. Congressional Research Service. January 14. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R42664.pdf. (Accessed September 4, 2016.)Google Scholar
B92. 2017. “No Repression in Catalonia, Spain is not Yugoslavia.” B92.net, October 27. https://www.b92.net/eng/news/world.php?yyyy=2017&mm=10&dd=27&nav_id=102659. (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar
Bakke, Kristin M. 2011. “After the War Ends: Violence and Viability in Post-Soviet Unrecognized States.” In Unrecognized States in the International System, edited by Caspersen, Nina and Stansfield, Gareth, 90–109. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Basis for a Comprehensive Settlement of the Cyprus Problem. February 26, 2003. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2004/annan-cyprus-problem_maps_26feb03.pdf. (Accessed September 4, 2016.)Google Scholar
Bieber, Florian. 2013. “Power Sharing and Democracy in Southeast Europe.” Taiwan Journal of Democracy Special Issue: 129–148.Google Scholar
Brierly, James L. 1928. The Law of Nations: An Introduction to the International Law of Peace. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brownlie, Ian. 1980. Principles of Public International Law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. 1996. Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, Alan. 1992. “Self-determination and the Right to Secede.” Journal of International Affairs 42 (2): 247–365.Google Scholar
Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Serbia and Montenegro) Judgement of 26 February 2007. https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/91/091-20070226-JUD-01-00-EN.pdf. (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar
Caspersen, Nina. 2017. “Making Peace with De Facto States.” In Unrecognized States and Secession in the 21st Century, edited by Reigl, Martin and Doboš, Bohumil, 11–22. Cha, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspersen, Nina. 2012. Unrecognized States: The Struggle for Sovereignty in the Modern International System. Malden, MA: Polity Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspersen, Nina. 2011. “States without Sovereignty.” In Unrecognized States in the International System, edited by Caspersen, Nina and Stansfield, Gareth, 73–89. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Caspersen, Nina, and Stansfield, Gareth. 2011. Unrecognized States in the International System. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chen, Ti-Chiang. 1951. The International Law of Recognition: With Special Reference to Practice in the United States. New York: Preager.Google Scholar
Cheterian, Vicken. 2012. “Karabakh Conflict after Kosovo: No Way Out?” Nationalities Papers 40 (5): 703–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppieters, Bruno. 2012. “Conflict Resolution After the 2008 Georgia—Russia War: The Taiwan and Kosovo Models as Tools for Mobilization and Comparison.” Nationalities Papers 40 (5): 677–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornell, Svante. 2002. “Autonomy as a Source of Conflict: Caucasian Conflicts in Theoretical Perspective.” World Politics 54 (2): 245–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Covenant of the League of Nations. 1924. The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy. Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp. (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar
Crawford, James. 2006. The Creation of States in International Law. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crawford, James. 1999. “State Practice and International Law in Relation to Secession.” The British Yearbook of International Law 69 (1): 85–117.Google Scholar
Downes, Alexander. 2004. “The Problem with Negotiated Settlements to Ethnic Civil Wars.” Security Studies 13 (4): 230–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugard, John. 2013. The Secession of States and Their Recognition in the Wake of Kosovo. Hague Academy of International Law.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugard, John, and Raič, David. 2006. “The Role of Recognition in the Law and Practice of Secession.” In Secession, International Law Perspectives, edited by Kohen, Marcelo G., 94–137. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etzioni, Amitai. 1993. “The Evils of Self-Determination.” Foreign Policy 89: 21–35.Google Scholar
Fabry, Mikulas. 2017: “Unrecognized States and National Identity.” In Unrecognized States and Secession in the 21st Century, edited by Reigl, Martin and Doboš, Bohumil, 23–34. Cha, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabry, Mikulas. 2012. “The Contemporary Practice of State Recognition: Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and their Aftermath.” Nationalities Papers 40 (5): 661–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James D. 2004. “Separatist Wars, Partition, and World Order.” Security Studies 13 (4): 394–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, Anne-Marie. 2008. “Beyond Standards Before Status: Democratic Governance and Non-State Actors.” Review of International Studies 34 (3): 531–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geldenhuys, Deon. 2009. Contested States in World Politics. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geukjian, Ohannes. 2014. Negotiating Armenian – Azerbaijani Peace: Opportunities, Obstacles, Prospects. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Gjoni, Roland, Wetterberg, Anna, and Dunbar, David. 2010. “Decentralization as a Conflict Transformation Tool: The Challenge of Kosovo.” Public Administration and Development 30 (5): 291–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, Thomas. 1999. The Recognition of States: Law and Practice in Debate and Evolution. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Gross, Ernest A. 1966. “The South West Africa Case: What Happened?” Foreign Affairs October: 36–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Stig Jarle, and Bradbury, Mark. 2007. “Somaliland: A New Democracy in the Horn of Africa?” Review of African Political Economy 34 (113): 461–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, D. J. 2010. Cases and Materials on International Law. London: Sweet & Maxwell.Google Scholar
Hechter, Michael. 1992. “The Dynamics of Secession.” Acta Sociologica 35 (4): 267–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrberg, Antje. 2011: “The Politics of Unrecognized States and the Business of International Peace Mediation.” In Unrecognized States in the International System, edited by Caspersen, Nina and Stansfield, Gareth, 165–182. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
International Court of Justice. 2010: “Accordance of International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo,” July 22. https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/141/141-20100722-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf. (Accessed November 10, 2019.)Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2016. Russia and the Separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Crisis Group Europe and Central Asia Briefing No 79. February 5.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2014: International Crisis Group, “Divided Cyprus: Coming to Terms on an Imperfect Reality,” Crisis Group Europe Report No. 229, March 14, 2014.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2010a. Abkhazia: Deepening Dependence. Europe Report 202. February 20.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2010b. South Ossetia: The Burden of Recognition. Europe Report 205. June 7.Google Scholar
International Crisis Group. 2005. Nagorno-Karabakh: Viewing the Conflict from the Ground. Europe Report 166. September 14.Google Scholar
Jackson, Robert. 1990. Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jenne, Erin K. 2009: “The Paradox of Ethnic Partition: Lessons from de facto Partition in Bosnia and Kosovo.” Regional and Federal Studies 19 (2): 273–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kartsonaki, Argyro. 2018. Breaking Away: Kosovo’s Unilateral Secession. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Stuart. 2001. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Ker-Lindsay, James. 2017. “Suriname Triggers New Phase in Kosovo Recognition Battle.” Balkan Insight, November 1. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/suriname-triggers-new-phase-in-kosovo-recognition-battle-11-01-2017. (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar
Ker-Lindsay, James. 2012. The Foreign Policy of Counter Secession: Preventing the Recognition of Contested States. London: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ker-Lindsay, James. 2011. “Principles and the Partition of Kosovo.” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 23 (2): 228–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Charles. 2001. “The Benefits of Ethnic War: Understanding Eurasia’s Unrecognized States.” World Politics 53 (July): 524–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingston, Paul, and Spears, Ian S. eds. 2004. States-Within-States: Incipient Political Entities in the Post-Cold War Era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klabbers, Jan. 2006. “The Right to be Taken Seriously: Self-Determination in International Law.” Human Rights Quarterly 28 (1): 186–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolstø, Pål. 2006. “The Sustainability and Future of Unrecognized Quasi-States.” Journal of Peace Research 43 (6): 723–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolstø, Pål, and Blakkisrud, Helge. 2011. “‘Separatism is the Mother of Terrorism’: Internationalizing the Security Discourse on Unrecognized States.” In Unrecognized States in the International System, edited by Caspersen, Nina and Stansfield, Gareth, 110–127. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kolstø, Pål, and Blakkisrud, Helge. 2008. “Living with Non-Recognition: State- and Nation-Building in South Caucasian Quasi-States.” Europe-Asia Studies 60 (3): 483–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolstø, Pål, and Pauković, Davor: 2013. “The Short and Brutish Life of Republika Srpska Krajina: Failure as a De Facto State.” Ethnopolitics 13 (4): 309–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasner, Steven. 2001: Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, Radha. 1997. “The Troubled History of Partition.” Foreign Affairs 76 (1): 22–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauterpacht, Hersch. 1947: Recognition in International Law. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
League of Nations Treaty Series. 1936. Treaties and International Engagements registered with the Secretariat of the League of Nations, vol. CLXV nos. 3801–3824. https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/LON/Volume%20165/v165.pdf. (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar
Licklider, Roy. 1995. “The Consequences of Negotiated Settlements in Civil Wars, 1945–1993.” American Political Science Review 89 (3): 681–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mearscheimer, John J., and Van Evera, Stephen. 1999. “Redraw the Map, Stop the Killing.” New York Times, April 19.Google Scholar
Moore, Margaret. 1998. National Self-Determination and Secession. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Openheim, Lassa. 2005. International Law: A Treatise. Vol 1, Peace. Roxburgh, Ronald F. ed. Clark, NJ: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.Google Scholar
Osiander, Andreas. 2001. “Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth.” International Organization 55 (2): 251–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owtram, Francis. 2011. “The Foreign Policies of Unrecognized States.” In Unrecognized States in the International System, edited by Caspersen, Nina and Stansfield, Gareth, 128–143. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
, Pahuya. 2005. “The Postcoloniality of International Law.” Harvard International Law Journal 46 (2): 459–470.Google Scholar
Pavlaković, Vjeran. 2013. “Symbols and the Culture of Memory in Republika Srpska Krajina.” Nationalities Papers 41 (6): 893–909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pegg, Scott. 1998. International Society and the De Facto State. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Ratner, Steven R. 1996. “Drawing a Better Line: UTI Possidetis and the Borders of New States.” The American Journal of International Law 90 (4): 590–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossi, Michael. 2018. “Partition in Kosovo will Lead to Disaster.” Foreign Policy, September 19.Google Scholar
Rossi, Michael. 2014. “Ending the Impasse in Kosovo: Partition, Decentralization, or Consociationalism?” Nationalities Papers 42 (5): 867–889.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sambanis, Nicholas. 2000: “Partition as a Solution to Ethnic War: An Empirical Critique of the Theoretical Literature.” World Politics 52 (4): 437–483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoiswohl, Michael. 2001: “De facto Regimes and Human Rights Obligations—The Twilight Zone of Public International Law?” Austrian Review of Public and International Law 6: 45–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solomon, Erika, Chazan, Guy, and Jones, Sam. 2015. “ISIS, Inc.: How Oil Fuels the Jihadi Terrorists.” Financial Times. October 14.Google Scholar
Stanislawski, Bartosz, Pełcyńska-Nałęcz, Katarzyna, Stachota, Krzysztof, Falkowski, Maciej, Crane, David M., and Levitsky, Melvyn. 2008. “Para-states, Quasi-states, and Black Spots: Perhaps Not States, but Not ‘Ungoverned Territories’ Either.” International Studies Review 10 (2): 366–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Security Council. 2001. “Council Endorses Proposal to Declare East Timor’s Independence 20 May 2002.” SC/7192. October 31. http://www.un.org/press/en/2001/sc7192.doc.htm. (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 2004. World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, K. William. 2008. “When in the Course of Human Events: Kosovo’s Independence and the Law of Secession.” Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law 17: 267–293.Google Scholar
Weller, Marc. 2009: Contested Statehood: Kosovo’s Struggle for Independence. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, Stefan. 2003: Disputed Territories: The Transnational Dynamics of Ethnic Conflict Settlement. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Wolff, Stefan, and Weller, Marc. 2005: “Self-Determination and Autonomy: A Conceptual Introduction.” In Autonomy, Self-Governance and Conflict Resolution: Innovative Approaches to Institutional Design in Divided Societies, edited by Weller, Marc and Wolff, Stefan, 1–25. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wood, Graeme. 2015. “What ISIS Really Wants.” The Atlantic. March. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/ (Accessed January 14, 2018.)Google Scholar