States – conditions and legal consequences

1. States – conditions and legal consequences Policy or law? Population Rights Territory Statehood Governing structures Duties Independence Responsibility Recognition of states

2. States – conditions • Waves of state establishment – from 50 to 200 • Decolonisation • End of the Soviet Union • Recognition of States • Secession from an existing State or uniting existing separate states • Is recognition a condition for existence? • Can recognition be invalid? • The four basic criteria • Convention on the rights and duties of states (1933) 1. Population • Self-sustained? Avoid numerous states? • Self-determination – ”peoples” 2. Territory • Sustainable exploitations of resources – self-sustained? • Border conflicts and disputed borders • Uti possidetis

3. States – conditions II 3. Governing structures • Recognition of governments? To what extent a political decision? • Stability and control • Self-determination • Minorities vs. indigenous peoples • Indigenous peoples – the basic problem of control over natural resources • How to define ”peoples” – autonomous or supra-national? • The Israeli Wall case (2004) – the Palestinian right of self-determination as an erga omnes right 4. Self-governance • Different starting points • Loss of self governance – Norway during the war • Establishment of self governance • Decolonisation (UNGA res. 1514 – ”inalienable right”) • Kosovo and Georgia

4. States – succession • State succession vs. government succession • State succession • Treaties – ”localized” vs. ”non-localized treaties; the ”clean slate” principle • The Estrada doctrine • The case of Iraq – legitimate and illegitimate debt • The Gabcikovo – Nagymaros case (ICJ rep. 1997), Legality of use of force case (Serbia and Montenegro, ICJ rep. 2004) • Government succession • Intervention in internal affairs – Military, political, economic? • How free is the new government in relation to obligations established by the previous government?

5. States – legal consequences of statehood • Rights of states • Can a state enjoy rights without recognition from other states? • Exclusive territorial sovereignty • Personal jurisdiction • Right of non-intervention • Immunity of State institutions and representatives • Right of membership in intergovernmental organisations? • Erga omnes rights? • Right to respect for treaties? • Persistent objector?

6. States – legal consequences II • Duties of states? • Can a state undertake duties without recognition from other states? • Treaty obligations – treaties with states vs. treaties with IGOs • Duties according to customary international law • Unilateral declarations • State responsibility • Is state responsibility dependent on recognition? • Is invocation of state responsibility to be regarded as recognition? • The issue of ”insurgents”

7. Insurgents • Counted among traditional subjects of international law • Insurgents and the right of self-determination • Transitional • ”Subject” – Rights and duties • Main question whether they can be held responsible after they have transformed into a State • Draft articles on State responsibility, art. 10 • Mainly theoretical • What about “insurgents” in a “war on terror” situation?