Erkännandet av stater politik eller juridik? Erkännande teorier och dess effekter

Sammanfattning: This essay will debate the topic of state recognition in public international law. The purpose of the essay is to explore state recognition and determine the legal effects of recognition. The following questions aim to pinpoint the purpose of this essay: which state recognition theories exist and how does one differ from the other? And what legal effects does recognition have? Before discussing state recognition it is essential to examine what a state actually is. The common ground is generally found in the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States, where the basic requirements for an entity to achieve statehood is defined. The requirements consist of the following four criteria: a permanent population; a defined territory; government and a capacity to enter into relations with other states. If an entity fulfil these prerequisites the question arises what impact recognition has on an entity’s statehood? The two primary theories in state recognition are the constitutive theory and the declaratory theory. The constitutive theory emphasise the view that a state exist only when recognized by other states, and before recognition the state is solely an entity. The declaratory theory has a different point of view, this theory suggests that recognition only is a confirmation on the statehood of a state. And thus the entity already before the recognition exist as a sate, but with the recognition confirmation of statehood is given. Neither of these two theories have been able to extinguish the other, and there is no unanimous practice in public international law. Maybe this diversity in state recognition depends on the political part of recognition, and the fact that states are the legislative power and at the same time should be the law abiding citizens in public international law, thus having a foot in both camps. This makes the line of illegal acts and developing public international law somewhat hazy. The effects of recognition does not necessarily have to be limited to a certain effect, a state recognition may be declaratory in some cases and constitutive in other. This is noted in collective-recognitions by admission of an entity as a new member of the UN and collective non-recognitions for instance from the UN. The conclusion is that recognition may have declaratory and constitutive effects, and the reason for both these theories survival are that both are needed in today’s public international law to create stability in the international community.