The Wide World of State Recognition

Abstract

The international politics of recognizing new states, as the author of Recognizing States: International Society and the Establishment of New States Since 1776 readily concedes, could be thought of as “a somewhat arid, even tedious, topic” (p. 2). Thankfully, in this case there is no need for such self-deprecation. For in the right hands, telling the story of the politics of recognition actually reveals a great deal about the formation and ongoing evolution of our international system, as this fine book amply demonstrates. This is because the practice of recognition, important of itself, is also intimately connected to a host of related principles and practices of international relations: the many dimensions of sovereignty both internal and external, standards of legitimacy, arguments and practices surrounding self-determination, the principle of territorial integrity, the rights of conquest, and more. Because he deftly weaves all these in with the titular “recognition,” Mikulas Fabry's study of system membership standards in effect addresses the history of the international system itself, making important contributions along the way.