diplomatic recognition
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What is diplomatic recognition?
Diplomatic recognition is when one state formally accepts another as a member of the international community. It can also apply to a new government of an existing state.
Recognition of a new state acknowledges its sovereignty and independent status, while recognizing a new government affirms its right to represent the state. According to the declaratory theory, recognition means accepting an existing factual situation, while the constitutive theory says recognition actually creates the state.
States aren't required to recognize new claimants, but they sometimes have a duty not to recognize a state, such as situations created by aggression. The Stimson Doctrine says recognition shouldn't be granted to new states or territorial changes resulting from the illegal use of armed force.
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Why do countries give diplomatic recognition to each other?
Diplomatic recognition is how a state acknowledges another as a member of the international community. It involves accepting certain facts and giving them legal status, like statehood or sovereignty.
States decide individually whether to grant this acknowledgment. They may look for adherence to international law. They may also consider factors such as respect for minority rights and commitment to disarmament.
Premature recognition can be seen as interference in another state's affairs. However, a country might refuse recognition of a state created through aggression. While not obligatory, recognition is a political act with significant implications.
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What does it mean if a country is not recognized diplomatically?
If a country lacks diplomatic recognition, other states don't formally accept it as a member of the international community. This affects the unrecognized country's sovereignty and independent position, complicating its ability to engage in international relations.
Non-recognition can stem from various factors, such as political motives, instability, or establishment through illegal use of armed force. For example, the Stimson Doctrine asserts that recognition should not be granted to states or territorial changes achieved through illegal force.
A country may be considered de facto when it is not recognized de jure. A de facto government exists in practice, but a de jure government has legal standing.
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How does diplomatic recognition affect a country's ability to join international organizations?
Diplomatic recognition is pivotal for a country seeking to join international organizations. It signifies that other states accept the new state as a member of the international community.
According to the declaratory theory, recognition affirms an existing factual situation, such as adherence to statehood criteria. Without recognition, a state's ability to engage in international relations and enter treaties is limited, complicating its path to joining bodies like the United Nations. The UN holds that all members are equally sovereign.
The UN Security Council recommends new members, and the General Assembly admits them by a two-thirds vote.
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What are some reasons a country might refuse to recognize another country?
A country might refuse to recognize another country for several reasons. According to the declaratory theory of recognition, recognition means accepting an already existing factual situation, such as conformity with the criteria of statehood.
Reasons for non-recognition:
* Illegitimate formation States may refuse to recognize a new state if it was formed through illegal use of armed force or aggression.
* Failure to meet criteria A country may not be recognized if it doesn't meet the established criteria for statehood, such as having a permanent population, defined territorial boundaries, a government, and the ability to enter into agreements with other states.
* Political reasons Political motives can also play a role, such as disapproval of a new government's behavior or a desire to avoid political difficulties.
* Intervention Premature recognition of a seceding state can be seen as intervention in the existing state's internal affairs.
* Violation of international norms Non-recognition can result from the violation of international law, such as the creation of states based on apartheid policies.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Can you give an example of a country whose diplomatic recognition is contested or debated?
A notable example of a country with contested diplomatic recognition is Taiwan. Officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's government maintains control over the island and several smaller island groups. However, the People's Republic of China (PRC) asserts its jurisdiction over Taiwan, a position that few countries dispute.
This has led to a complex situation where only a limited number of countries officially recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, while many others maintain unofficial relations. The international community's stance on Taiwan is further complicated by competing claims in the East and South China Seas, involving the Diaoyutai/Senkaku Islands and the Spratly Islands.
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diplomatic recognition, term that may refer either to the procedure by which a new state is formally accepted by other states as a member of the international community or to the procedure by which a new government of an existing state is accepted as the legal representative of that state. The two procedures, although frequently confused, raise distinct legal questions. The recognition of a new state involves the sovereignty of the state and its independent position in relation to other states; the recognition of a new government merely involves the determination of the particular organized group that is to be accepted as having the right to speak in the name of the state, without raising any issue of the legal personality of the state.
The term recognition has been applied to states already enjoying independent existence but not maintaining diplomatic relations with the Western powers, as in the case of Ethiopia until its admission into the League of Nations in 1923. Its more common application, however, is to colonies, dependencies, or constituent administrative units that have declared their independence from a ruling country and have proved their ability to maintain their separate existence, as in the case of the recognition by the United States of the Latin American states beginning in 1822. The provisions of the United Nations Charter concerning the “self-determination of peoples” and the administration of “non-self-governing territories” support such recognitions.
On occasion, political motives have led to the recognition of a new state before it actually proved its ability to maintain its independence, as in the case of the recognition of the United States by France in 1778. Recognition by the Netherlands came in 1782, one year before the Treaty of Paris was concluded. After that treaty, the United States was soon recognized by other states: by Sweden and Spain in 1783; by Prussia in 1785; by Portugal in 1791; and by Russia as late as 1803. Premature recognition has typically been regarded as a slight against a mother country, as when Mexico resented the recognition of Texas by the United States in 1837 and when Colombia resented the recognition of Panama by the United States in 1903. In 2022 Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as a prelude to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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During the 19th century the great powers gave collective recognition to certain new states before they had yet won their independence through armed conflict, as when Greece was recognized in 1827; Belgium in 1831; and Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro in 1878. Since the end of World War I recognition has frequently been granted through a voluntary act of the mother country or more recently through a collective act of the members of the United Nations. Great Britain, for example, recognized the independence of Ireland in 1920, Egypt in 1922, and India and Pakistan in 1947. Recognition by other states followed promptly. Indonesia was recognized by the Netherlands as independent in 1949, and Ghana and Malaya (now Malaysia) by Great Britain in 1957, followed by their admission to the UN. Many newly independent African countries received recognition in the early 1960s.
The Stimson Doctrine, declared by the U.S. secretary of state in 1932 and subsequently supported by the League of Nations, asserted that recognition should not be extended to new states or to territorial changes effected by the illegal use of armed force. In accordance with this doctrine, the United States and the members of the League of Nations refused to recognize the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, and the United States refused to recognize the Italian conquest of Ethiopia (1936) and the German annexation of Austria (1938).
In the case of new governments, the procedure of recognition is undertaken only when an existing de jure government is overthrown by revolution and it becomes necessary for the governments of other states to decide whether the new government has the stability required to justify holding it responsible for the obligations of the state and is entitled in turn to claim the rights of the state. Recognition in such cases raises no question of the legal personality of the state or of its place in the community of nations but merely the question of whether a particular group can properly speak in the name of the state. Governments actually in power are described as de facto until they are recognized by other states, after which they are described as de jure.
In addition to stability, one common condition for recognition has been that the new government must not have been established through immoral behavior, such as assassinations, and must express an intention to observe the rules of international law. Such political or subjective conditions of recognition have given rise to numerous controversies and conflicting practices, with new governments being recognized by some states and not by others. The United States, for example, refused to recognize the government of Gen. Victoriano Huerta established in Mexico by the assassination of Pres. Francisco Madero in 1913 and, until 1933, the Soviet government of Russia established by the revolution in 1917. It was not until 1979 that the United States recognized the Communist government of China, which had been established 30 years earlier. The United States, however, promptly recognized the government of Iraq established by the assassination of King Faisal II in 1958. During World War II the United States and Great Britain refused to recognize the governments of the countries occupied by the German army and continued to recognize the refugee governments.
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Efforts have been made to establish rules of international law on the subject of recognition in addition to the prohibition of premature recognition and non-recognition of the forces of aggression. The political element of recognition has dominated, however, and states have been unwilling to accept a collective agreement regarding which diametrically opposed points of view should be adopted with respect to the conduct that may be expected of a new government.