Recognition of States — Two Theories — KSLU Pil Notes

Recognition of States — Two Theories

flowchart LR
    REC[Recognition of a New State] --> CONST[Constitutive Theory]
    REC --> DECL[Declaratory Theory]
    CONST --> C1[Oppenheim, Anzilotti]
    CONST --> C2[Recognition CREATES legal personality]
    CONST --> C3[Without recognition - no rights under IL]
    CONST --> C4[Problem - recognition becomes political weapon]
    DECL --> D1[Brierly, Lauterpacht]
    DECL --> D2[Recognition merely ACKNOWLEDGES existing statehood]
    DECL --> D3[State exists once Montevideo criteria are met]
    DECL --> D4[Badinter Commission 1991 - Yugoslavia - adopted this]
    DECL --> PREFERRED[✅ Preferred by modern scholars and ICJ]

Criticism of Each Theory