Democratic statehood in international law
Subtitle: the emergence of new states in post-Cold War practice
By: Jure Vidmar
Series: Studies in international law; Studies in international law (Oxford, England)
Publisher: Hart Pub.
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Oxford, United States; Portland, Or
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9781849464697
Subjects: The State; Self-determination, National; Democracy; International law
Description: "This book analyses the emerging practice in the post-Cold War era of the creation of a democratic political system along with the creation of new states. The existing literature either tends to conflate self-determination and democracy or dismisses the legal relevance of the emerging practice on the basis that democracy is not a statehood criterion. Such arguments are simplistic. The statehood criteria in contemporary international law are largely irrelevant and do not automatically or self-evidently determine whether or not an entity has emerged as a new state. The question to be asked, therefore, is not whether democracy has become a statehood criterion. The emergence of new states is rather a law-governed political process in which certain requirements regarding the type of a government may be imposed internationally. And in this process the introduction of a democratic political system is equally as relevant or irrelevant as the statehood criteria. The book demonstrates that via the right of self-determination the law of statehood requires state creation to be a democratic process, but that this requirement should not be interpreted too broadly. The democratic process in this context governs independence referenda and does not interfere with the choice of a political system."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-265) and index.
Table of contents: title: Democracy and statehood in international law; title: The practice of post-cold war state creations : the statehood criteria, democracy and human rights; title: Democratic aspects of the right of self-determination; title: Delimitation of  new states and limitations on the will of the people; title: Democratic statehood : Conclusions.