Unrecognized States E-Book

Nina Caspersen

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 402

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Unrecognized states are places that do not exist in international politics; they are state-like entities that have achieved de facto independence, but have failed to gain widespread international recognition. Since the Cold-War, unrecognized states have been involved in conflicts over sovereign statehood in the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, South Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the South Pacific; some of which elicited major international crises and intervention, including the use of armed force.

Yet they remain subject to many myths and simplifications. Drawing on a number of contemporary and historical cases, from Nagorno Karabakh and Somaliland to Taiwan, this timely new book provides a comprehensive analysis of unrecognized states. It examines their origins, the factors that enable them to survive and explores their likely future trajectories. But it is not just a book about unrecognized states; it is a book about sovereignty and statehood; one which does not shy way from addressing crucial issues such as how these anomalies survive in a system of sovereign states and how the context of non-recognition affects their attempts to build effective state-like entities.

Ideal for students and scholars of global politics, peace and conflict studies, Unrecognized States offers a much needed and engaging account of the development of unrecognized states in the modern international system.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Dedication

Title page

Copyright page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

Anomalies in the International System

States That Don’t Exist

States Without Sovereignty

International Recognition

Anarchical Badlands

Unrecognized States in the Modern International System

2 STATES WITHOUT RECOGNITION

History of Unrecognized States

Path of Creation

International Position

Security Implications of Nonrecognition

The Politics of Unrecognized States

3 SURVIVING IN THE MODERN INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

External Sources of Unrecognized State-Building

State-Building: From Territorial Control to Effective Entities

State-Building Through Self-Reliance?

Patron States

State-Building and Globalization

Parent States: Limited Relations?

Creating Internationally Acceptable Entities

The Cost of Nonrecognition

4 INTERNAL SOURCES OF UNRECOGNIZED STATE-BUILDING

Ensuring Coercive Control: Avoiding Infighting Warlords

Building Effective, Legitimate Entities

Ambiguous Statehood

Squaring the Circle of Unrecognized Statehood

5 RETHINKING SOVEREIGNTY AND STATEHOOD

State-Building and (Non)Recognition

‘States-in-all-but-name’?

Surviving as Unrecognized States

Rethinking Statehood and Sovereignty?

Conclusion: Statehood Without Sovereignty

6 MOVING TOWARD PEACE OR WAR?

Breaking the Stalemate

Promoting Peace Through the Denial of Statehood?

Pressures of Unrecognized Statehood

Fudging Sovereignty and Guaranteeing Security

Building Trust Through Engagement

If All Else Fails: Recognition or Long-Term Nonrecognition?

7 CONCLUSION

Not Simply States-In-All-But-Name

Dangerous Vacuum

Opportunities for Conflict Resolution

Engagement: The Least Bad Option

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Index

To Keith and Emma

Copyright © Nina Caspersen 2012

The right of Nina Caspersen to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2012 by Polity Press

Polity Press

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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

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Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-5342-6

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-5343-3 (pb)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6034-9 (Single-user ebook)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6004-2 (Multi-user ebook)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study began with a focus on the dynamics of conflicts involving unrecognized states, but transformed itself into an attempt to understand these ‘places that don’t exist’ in international relations: how do they survive, what kind of entities evolve in the context of nonrecognition, and how that evolution affects attempts to reach a peaceful solution. In my attempt to answer these challenging questions, I benefited immensely from discussions with a number of colleagues. Thanks to Kristin Bakke, Eiki Berg, Helge Blakkisrud, Stacy Closson, Svante Cornell, Thomas de Waal, James Harvey, Antje Herrberg, Daria Isachenko, Pål Kolstø, Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Scott Pegg, Gareth Stansfield, Stefan Wolff, and everyone else who has helped with ideas, suggestions, and useful criticism. Also thanks to my colleagues at the Richardson Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and to my students at Lancaster University who have over the years challenged, and sometimes defeated, my arguments on unrecognized states. Any remaining mistakes are, of course, my own.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Economic and Social Research Council for its financial support which enabled me to conduct the research for this book (grant code: RES-000-22-2728). The book, moreover, relies heavily on fieldwork and this was made a lot easier by the considerable support I received from a number of people. In Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, I would like to thank Khachatur Adumyan, Armine Alexanyan, Robert Avetisyan, Gegham Baghdasaryan, Masis Mayilyan, Tevan Poghosyan, and Levon Zourabian. In Azerbaijan, I would like to thank Arzu Abdullayeva, Tabib Huseynov, and Fariz Ismailzade. Also thanks to Laurence Broers, Jonathan Cohen, and Sabine Freizer, who helped me set up many of the initial contacts. In Croatia, I would like to thank Nikica Bari, Marina Lipovšak, Saša Miloševi, Petra Radi, and the staff at the archive of the Croatian Memorial-Documentation Center. In Serbia, I would like to thank Mile Daki, Filip Švarm, and Jelisaveta Vukeli. I also owe a lot of gratitude to all the people I interviewed; this book would not have been possible without the information and insights they provided me with.

Some of the arguments presented in this book have previously appeared in articles published by Survival (August 2008), International Spectator (December 2009), and Nations and Nationalism (April 2001), and in a chapter in the edited volume Unrecognized States in the International System (Routledge, 2010). I am grateful to the editors and anonymous reviewers who helped me refine my thoughts. Finally, thanks to Louise Knight and David Winters at Polity Press, and to the anonymous reviewers, for believing in this project and for their many useful suggestions which have turned this into a much better book.

I dedicate the book to my partner Keith and to our beautiful baby daughter Emma.

1

INTRODUCTION

When I first visited an unrecognized state, Nagorno Karabakh, it was with some trepidation. The British Foreign Office warns against all travel to the region and the statelet is frequently described as a criminalized ethnic fiefdom. This is an image common to most unrecognized states. Unrecognized states are the places that do not exist in international relations; they are state-like entities that are not part of the international system of sovereign states; consequently they are shrouded in mystery and subject to myths and simplifications. All this leaves a first-time traveller, especially one with a career in international relations, a little bewildered and perhaps even a little worried, but also fascinated. But what first struck me on this trip to Nagorno Karabakh was the sense of normalcy. The border guard glanced at my passport, asked a few questions about the purpose of my visit, and let me cross the de facto border without further delay. The journey then continued along a—for the Caucasus—remarkably pothole-free road towards the ‘capital’ of Stepanakert.

Although its capital looks more like a dusty provincial town than a capital city, Karabakh certainly has the semblance of a state: its own flag, army, and government; basic public services such as health and education; and it even provides basic amenities for the intrepid traveller, such as hotels and a few restaurants. Nevertheless, unrecognized states are not like other states; they have achieved de facto independence, but have failed to gain international recognition or are recognized by a few states at most. They insist on their right to self-determination, but are faced with the stronger principle of territorial integrity. Unrecognized states exist in the shadows of international relations, in a kind of limbo, and the renewed outbreak of war is an ever-present risk and defining feature of their existence. Yet somehow these entities manage to survive, and even develop. This raises important questions about the nature of sovereignty and statehood. Unrecognized states are predominantly situated in highly volatile regions, and are themselves the product of violent conflict. In addition to Nagorno Karabakh (Azerbaijan), there are a number of such entities in the current international system, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Georgia), Somaliland (Somalia), Northern Cyprus (Cyprus), and Transnistria (Moldova). There are also a large number of historical examples of unrecognized states that have now either gained independence or, more frequently, been defeated militarily and reintegrated into their ‘parent states’. These include: Biafra (Nigeria, 1967–70), Chechnya (Russia, 1991–94, 1996–99), Republika Srpska Krajina (Croatia, 1991–95), Eritrea (Ethiopia, 1991–93) and Tamil Eelam (Sri Lanka, 1986–2009). Unrecognized states may until recently have represented largely forgotten conflicts,1 but events in Kosovo, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia have now sparked significant international interest. Kosovo’s recognition provided encouragement for the leaders of other unrecognized states who argued that an important precedent had been set. As the then-president of Nagorno Karabakh put it, ‘If the world community is ready to recognize the independence of […] Kosovo, I think it will be very hard for them to explain why they don’t recognize Nagorno-Karabakh.’2 Moreover, it provided Russia with an instrument for reasserting influence in its ‘near abroad’. Vladimir Putin already in 2006 had warned, ‘If someone believes that Kosovo should be granted full independence as a state, then why should we deny it to the Abkhaz and the South Ossetians?’3 On 7 August 2008, Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakashvili unwisely responded to Russian provocations and launched an attempt to retake South Ossetia by force. This gave Russia the needed pretext: under the guise of protecting the civilian population and acting under its peacekeeping mandate, the Russian Army quickly defeated the Georgian forces and on 27 August Russia announced its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. President Medvedev argued that independence could not be denied to these entities when it had been granted to Kosovo: ‘You cannot have one rule for some and another rule for others.’ This move caused consternation in Western capitals, and it announced that after lying dormant for several years, the game of recognition had returned to global politics.