WHAT IS A STATE
Westphalian State System - 1648
- Established that no state has the legal right to intervene in the sovereign
affairs of another state
- All states possess the same legal right to independence
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points - 1918
- Nation-state sovereignty should be given to peoples with shared ethnicity
→right to self-determination
- Established states such as Poland and Austria
Montevideo Convention - 1933
A sovereign state must possess:
- A defined territory
- A permanent population
- A viable government
- The capacity to enter into diplomatic relations with another state
This would mean a state could make laws within its borders and no outside influence
could challenge the borders
Post WW2
- Dismantling of colonies led to new independent states
- The end of communism and the breakdown of the USSR led to 15 new states
being established between 1989 and 1991
The UN and State Sovereignty
- Article 2 of the UN Charter refers to the ‘sovereign equality of all its’
members’. This means one state can’t intervene in another state’s affairs
- All states have equal territorial integrity →can’t invade or claim land
- States only have this if they are recognised as states
- Palestinians and Catalan claim nation statehood, but the UN doesn’t
accept their claims
Westphalian State System - 1648
- Established that no state has the legal right to intervene in the sovereign
affairs of another state
- All states possess the same legal right to independence
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points - 1918
- Nation-state sovereignty should be given to peoples with shared ethnicity
→right to self-determination
- Established states such as Poland and Austria
Montevideo Convention - 1933
A sovereign state must possess:
- A defined territory
- A permanent population
- A viable government
- The capacity to enter into diplomatic relations with another state
This would mean a state could make laws within its borders and no outside influence
could challenge the borders
Post WW2
- Dismantling of colonies led to new independent states
- The end of communism and the breakdown of the USSR led to 15 new states
being established between 1989 and 1991
The UN and State Sovereignty
- Article 2 of the UN Charter refers to the ‘sovereign equality of all its’
members’. This means one state can’t intervene in another state’s affairs
- All states have equal territorial integrity →can’t invade or claim land
- States only have this if they are recognised as states
- Palestinians and Catalan claim nation statehood, but the UN doesn’t
accept their claims
