Normative Standing: De Facto State Identity and International Legitimation
Date
2018
Authors
Klich, Sebastian Tadeusz
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Abstract
This thesis makes an original contribution to the field of de
facto state studies. The robustness and durability of de facto
states in the post-Cold War era has defied scholars’ earlier
predictions of likely impermanence. In the de facto states
literature that followed, a focus on rational choice approaches
permeated the analysis of these states’ international
engagement, however the concept of de facto state identity and
how it shapes the relationship with international society has yet
to be fully explored and analysed. A recent trend towards
examining the legitimation strategies of de facto states has been
restricted by an under-conceptualisation of the social system
that they inhabit, restricting the explanatory utility of
legitimacy as an analytical lens.
Rather than an abnormality, non-recognition has been the norm in
the relationship between de facto states and international
society. A stasis has formed. The under-conceptualisation of the
relationship has remained a partial void that has limited the
understanding of a phenomenon that continues to challenge central
concepts in the discipline of International Relations. The core
objective of this thesis is to address that conceptual need by
synthesising constructivist and English School approaches to
build a conceptual framework of normative standing that enables a
clearer articulation of the relationship between de facto states
and international society. It employs a constructivist
methodology to examine the recognition narrative of de facto
states, in order to conduct constitutive analysis of their state
identities, and to build the foundations of a theory of normative
standing.
Three case studies, with varying degrees of international
engagement and parent state relationships, were selected for the
examination of the application of the conceptual framework.
Together, they provide for an effective generalisation across the
spectrum of de facto states. The three case studies ― Nagorno
Karabakh, Somaliland, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ― were
informed by fieldwork interviews conducted in situ. The theory of
normative standing proposed by this thesis proves to be a useful
tool to explain de facto states' endurability, how de facto
statehood has itself become a role identity in the international
system, and the stasis of the relationship between de facto
states and international society.
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Keywords
De facto states, unrecognised states, unrecognized states, international relations, international relations theory, constructivism, English School, legitimacy, Iraq, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nagorno Karabakh, Nagorno-Karabakh, Somaliland
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Type
Thesis (PhD)