Where's the line drawn international law between recognizing a state and recognizing a government. And what exactly is an illegitimate government, who gets to label a government as illegitimate and what are the consequences of such 'illegitimacy'.
The line: Once a state is recognized under international law, it continues to exist even if governments change. (Eg. Venezuela is still a state under international law even through the transition of power after the Maduro capture).
The idea of an “illegitimate government” is not a formal legal status in international law but a political judgment made by individual states, so there’s no single definition of what makes it illegitimate.
Any state can label a government illegitimate for many reasons (e.g., seizures of power, lack of effective control, democratic backsliding, or serious human rights violations).
The consequences are whatever states decide, eg. diplomatic isolation, exclusion from international organizations, loss of access to assets abroad, weakened treaty-making capacity, reduced immunities for leaders, exposure to sanctions, etc. Just depends on the case!
And… Venezuela post just dropped! 😜 Thanks for the support!
I just wondered if, as a matter of practice, once a certain number of countries recognise an entity, that recognition effectively pushes it over the threshold to being recognised as a State.
Thanks for your question! Yes, that’s the idea, but nobody quite knows what the number is…
There’s also a theory that slightly complicates determining what the number is. The theory is that no matter how many countries recognise an entity as a state — if the most specially affected state does NOT, then that entity will never be a state. So for example in the case of Palestine: despite 150+ recognitions, it cannot become a state if Israel/US (ie most specially affected) do not recognise it as well. Applying this theory makes it even more complicated to figure out when an entity is sufficiently recognised as a state.
Where's the line drawn international law between recognizing a state and recognizing a government. And what exactly is an illegitimate government, who gets to label a government as illegitimate and what are the consequences of such 'illegitimacy'.
P.S: we're all waiting for your Venezuela post🫣
Great questions!
The line: Once a state is recognized under international law, it continues to exist even if governments change. (Eg. Venezuela is still a state under international law even through the transition of power after the Maduro capture).
The idea of an “illegitimate government” is not a formal legal status in international law but a political judgment made by individual states, so there’s no single definition of what makes it illegitimate.
Any state can label a government illegitimate for many reasons (e.g., seizures of power, lack of effective control, democratic backsliding, or serious human rights violations).
The consequences are whatever states decide, eg. diplomatic isolation, exclusion from international organizations, loss of access to assets abroad, weakened treaty-making capacity, reduced immunities for leaders, exposure to sanctions, etc. Just depends on the case!
And… Venezuela post just dropped! 😜 Thanks for the support!
Really excellent piece- thank you.
I just wondered if, as a matter of practice, once a certain number of countries recognise an entity, that recognition effectively pushes it over the threshold to being recognised as a State.
Thanks for your question! Yes, that’s the idea, but nobody quite knows what the number is…
There’s also a theory that slightly complicates determining what the number is. The theory is that no matter how many countries recognise an entity as a state — if the most specially affected state does NOT, then that entity will never be a state. So for example in the case of Palestine: despite 150+ recognitions, it cannot become a state if Israel/US (ie most specially affected) do not recognise it as well. Applying this theory makes it even more complicated to figure out when an entity is sufficiently recognised as a state.