Statehood and The International Order

Abstract

Although the international system is based on states and statehood being in the center of many considerations, sovereignty, statehood, legitimacy, and recognition are all in themselves and in their interplay highly contested. This not only becomes clear by focusing on events and debates at the time of the Russian Empire and the Establishment of the Soviet Union but is true for a diverse set of actors over time. Thereby, the practice of (non-)recognition, which is often discussed while focusing on (contested) states, de facto states, quasi-states or unrecognised entities, is not limited to such entities but becomes more relevant for non-states actors too. With this being particularly true in times of growing digitalisation and globalised technology, the traditional perspective on recognition is challenged. This leads to increasing complexity in the debates concerning the legitimacy and recognition of different kinds of actors, including governments, while addressing the overarching question of “What makes a state a state?” While considering the material and non-material power of different kinds of actors, this panel not only includes perspectives from International Law, Political Theory, History, and other disciplines but combines different methodological approaches. Furthermore, it refers to various empirical examples like Taiwan, Estonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Russia and various non-state actors from other fields. It follows the debate about new types of autocracy and includes recent events and developments in Russia. While empirically covering a period of a little over 100 years, this panel combines various empirical cases and perspectives to draw a complex picture of recent and ongoing debates concerning statehood, the international order and perspectives resulting from recent changes in the empirical reality and scholarly debates.

Title	Details
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