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Recognition of Governments pp 154–172Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Political Uses of Recognition

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Part of the book series: Studies in Diplomacy ((STD))

Abstract

International law encourages, but does not require, governments to follow a strictly effectivist recognition policy. The resulting discretion in the timing and reasons for them creates the possibility of using recognition decisions for political purposes. Most legal scholars have paid some attention to this activity, mainly to condemn it as introducing elements of arbitrariness that do not belong in a well-ordered recognition process. Students of the foreign policy or the expansionist impulses of individual states have paid more attention, but they generally focus on one particular government’s activity rather than on comparison across governments or historical eras.

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Notes

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

    M. J. Peterson (Associate Professor of Political Science)

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  1. M. J. Peterson
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© 1997 M. J. Peterson

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Peterson, M.J. (1997). Political Uses of Recognition. In: Recognition of Governments. Studies in Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230375895_10

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