Unrecognized states in world politics

The idea of «recognition of States» is a New Age phenomenon, as universal norms of international law were previously lacking. At the beginning of its formation, international law developed as a customary law. However, the conclusion of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 led to the emergence of the principles of national sovereignty, the predominance of national interests and the equality of sovereign states.

The number of states in the world has never remained constant throughout human history. This fact is obvious, since the change in their number is a consequence and manifestation of various historical, political or territorial factors. In the middle of the last century, there were slightly more than 60 states on the political map of the world, and today the number of independent states is 195. The emergence of new states raises an important question about their status in the world community.

In recent decades, there has been a significant change in the global political landscape associated with the emergence of new states on the world stage. This process strengthened the confidence of the world community in the problems associated with the recognition of newly formed states, which led to the development of various aspects of their international legal status .

The problem of recognition of states became relevant in the period of modern times (1918 - present) . It is important to note that at the present stage of the development of international law, the institution of recognition of States and governments is governed mainly by international legal norms, despite the existing well-formed and established principles.

In the context of international law, a state means a country with all the features of a sovereign state. However, not every country is a state in the international legal sense and a subject of international law.

The first attempt to codify the international legal characteristics of a State was made in the 1933 Inter-American Convention on the Rights and Obligations of a State. According to Art. 1 of the Convention, a State as a person of international law must have certain characteristics (Figure 1).