Recognition of States and Governments

Recognition is the formal or implied acceptance of an entity or authority for purposes of international relations. Recognition of a state accepts that an entity possesses international legal personality, while recognition of a government accepts that a particular regime is entitled to represent an existing state. Recognition concerns legal status and representation, not necessarily political approval.

State and government recognition

State recognition concerns the existence of the state itself; government recognition concerns the authority acting on its behalf.

• Traditional indicators of statehood are a permanent population, defined territory, government and capacity to conduct international relations.
• A change of rulers, constitution or political system normally does not end the state's legal identity or treaty obligations.
• Government recognition considers whether a regime exercises sufficiently effective and independent control and can represent the state internationally.
• Government recognition presupposes continuity of the state, even when rival authorities claim to govern it.

De facto and de jure recognition

The distinction may be used for states or governments, but it has been especially important in recognising governments formed through irregular political change.

• De facto recognition is provisional or qualified acceptance based on an authority's actual and effective control, often while its stability or permanence remains uncertain.
• De jure recognition is fuller and more definitive acceptance that the entity or authority satisfies the recognising state's requirements for legal recognition.
• De facto recognition may precede de jure recognition, but the two are not compulsory sequential stages.
• The terminology and precise legal consequences are not uniform; they depend on the recognising state's intention, conduct and domestic law.

Form, theories and practical effects

• Recognition may be express, through an official declaration, or implied through conduct that clearly manifests acceptance.
• Meetings, negotiations or diplomatic engagement do not necessarily imply recognition; intention and context are decisive.
• Recognition can affect diplomatic representation, state property abroad, immunities and the treatment of official acts before domestic courts.
• Diplomatic relations may be severed without denying the continued existence of the state.
• The declaratory theory holds that satisfying the conditions of statehood creates statehood, while the constitutive theory treats recognition as creating personality in relation to the recognising state. The declaratory approach is more consistent with modern international law.