This book develops a new theory of territorialism and international legal status of territories. It (i) defines the concept of territory, explaining how territories are created; (ii) redefines the concept of statehood, illustrating that statehood (rather than the statehood criteria) is territorial legal status established in the formal sources of international law; and (iii) grounds non-state territorial entities in the sources of international law to explain their international legal status. This fresh new theoretical perspective has both scholarly and practical importance, providing a tool helping decision-makers and judges in the practical application of international law both internationally and domestically.
This book offers a comprehensive, highly informative and interdisciplinary study on territorial integrity and the challenges globalization, self-determination and external interventions present. This study aims at not only to fill an epistemological gap in this regard, but also answer the question of whether International Law is adequately equipped to help states address these challenges. The author argues that the biggest threat that many states are confronted with today is their disintegration rather than their obsolescence, and that International Law has not often been able to prevent that eventuality. In fact, states, when they were not destroyed by war, managed to survive, thanks to the flexibility of territoriality, i.e. their ability to adjust to difficult situations as they arose. It is this understanding of adaptation that urges an increasing number of states today to revive territorial autonomy and restore an original understanding of self-determination in which democracy is a pivotal factor in establishing congruence between the states and their nations. While this move is endorsed by International Law, it is not the case for globalization; for their own sake, proponents of globalization should recognize that the states are irreplaceable as long as they remain the sole providers of protection for their peoples.
Territorial Leasing in Diplomacy and International Law focuses on an unexplored but relatively common practice in which states reallocate their rights on territory without altering formal boundaries or resorting to definitive cessions. As products of diplomacy, leases address a frequent situation that, in extreme cases, can lead to war: the desire by more than one state to exercise sovereign authority in the same place. As instruments of international law, they paradoxically reinforce the territorial integrity of states while raising questions about the nature of their sovereignty. This book draws from a large number of leases to examine the practice from historic to modern times, describing their elements in detail and assessing them from both political and legal perspectives.
This work deals with the question of unlawful territorial situations, i.e. territorial regimes that are established and maintained in defiance of international law.The book represents a welcome contribution to an issue of the outmost importance in international affairs at present times. It brings together elaborate theoretical discussion and thorough empirical research. Students of international law, practitioners, and anyone interested in deepening the understanding of the role and relevance of international law to territorial occupation will greatly benefit from this study.
Statehood in the early 21st century remains as much a central problem now as it was in 1979 when the first edition of The Creation of States in International Law was published. As Rhodesia, Namibia, the South African Homelands and Taiwan then were subjects of acute concern, today governments, international organizations, and other institutions are seized of such matters as the membership of Cyprus in the European Union, application of the Geneva Conventions to Afghanistan, a final settlement for Kosovo, and, still, relations between China and Taiwan. All of these, and many other disputed situations, are inseparable from the nature of statehood and its application in practice. The remarkable increase in the number of States in the 20th century did not abate in the twenty five years following publication of James Crawford's landmark study, which was awarded the American Society of International Law Prize for Creative Scholarship in 1981. The independence of many small territories comprising the 'residue' of the European colonial empires alone accounts for a major increase in States since 1979; while the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the USSR in the early 1990s further augmented the ranks. With these developments, the practice of States and international organizations has developed by substantial measure in respect of self-determination, secession, succession, recognition, de-colonization, and several other fields. Addressing such questions as the unification of Germany, the status of Israel and Palestine, and the continuing pressure from non-State groups to attain statehood, even, in cases like Chechnya or Tibet, against the presumptive rights of existing States, James Crawford discusses the relation between statehood and recognition; the criteria for statehood, especially in view of evolving standards of democracy and human rights; and the application of such criteria in international organizations and between states. Also discussed are the mechanisms by which states have been created, including devolution and secession, international disposition by major powers or international organizations and the institutions established for Mandated, Trust, and Non-Self-Governing Territories. Combining a general argument as to the normative significance of statehood with analysis of numerous specific cases, this fully revised and expanded second edition gives a comprehensive account of the developments which have led to the birth of so many new states.
This book analyzes the traditional criteria of territorial acquisition and demonstrates their inadequacies in the modern context. It also addresses contemporary territorial doctrines and conflicts. It regards territorial acquisition as a comprehensive process involving various considerations leading to the establishment or transfer of exclusive control over territory. This approach has many advantages and adds to the development of the law of territorial acquisition. The author also provides an analysis of the claims and counter-claims in major contemporary territorial disputes and suggests appropriate legal perspectives bearing upon decision-making in regard to them. This book will be highly useful to students, academics and practitioners in the field of international law, as well as all governments and institutions dealing with territorial matters.
The principle of self-determination has at heart the achievement of true representation and democracy based on the idea that the consent of the governed alone can give government legitimacy. The principle was primarily responsible for the decolonisation process that shaped our current international community. `Self-determination' has been used in equal rhetorical brilliance by a number of leaders - some meritorious, with a genuine concern for human emancipation, others dubious, with ascendancy to power at the heart of their project. In any case, `self-determination' has come to mean different things in different contexts. Being a vital principle, especially in the post-colonial state, it is one factor that represents a threat to world order while at the same time holding out the promise of longer-term peace and security based on values of democracy, equity and justice. This book looks at the intricacies of the norm in its current ambiguous manifestation and seeks to deconstruct it with regard to three particularly inter-related discourses: that of minority rights, statehood and sovereignty, and the doctrine of uti possidetis which shaped the modern post-colonial state. These norms are then analysed further within two case studies. One, concerning the creation of Bangladesh where `self-determination' was achieved. The second, examines the situation in the Western Sahara where `self-determination' (whatever its manifestation) is yet to be expressed. In the course of these case studies we seek to highlight the problematic nature of `national identity' and the `self' in settings far removed from post-Westphalian Europe.
This work deals with the question of unlawful territorial situations, i.e. territorial regimes that are established and maintained in defiance of international law. It represents a very timely contribution to the debate concerning the nature, the aims and purpose of foreign interventions in the affairs of sovereign countries. International lawyers have focussed on the important questions of the legal regime applicable to the conduct of the occupant and the authoritative decision-making processes by international institutions, but often neglected the broader and decisive question of the legality of the ‘foreign’ or ‘international’ presence as such. The author shows the relevance and, sometimes irrelevance, of international law to the determination of legality or illegality of the occupation, and how legal norms incorporate and interact with the concepts of effectiveness and legitimacy. The book represents a welcome contribution to an issue of the outmost importance in international affairs at present times. It brings together elaborate theoretical discussion and thorough empirical research. Students of international law, practitioners, and anyone interested in deepening the understanding of the role and relevance of international law to territorial occupation will greatly benefit from this study.
