1. The Nature of Statehood under International Law

2. What is a State under international law?
In accordance with Article 1 of the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, a State should possess:
1) a permanent population;
2) a defined territory;
3) a government; and
4) a capacity to enter into relations with other States.

3. Permanent population Nationality is usually acquired on the basis of:
Jus soli
and / or
Jus sanguinis
Useful terms:
optatio
dual / multiple nationality
statelessness

4. Defined territory
The territory of a State is limited by its State borders and comprises:
land;
internal waters;
aerial space;
subsoil.
Useful terms:
terra nullius
territorial sea
cession
secession

5. Defined territory The territory of a State does not comprise:
the high seas;
space;
territories with international regimes.
Useful terms:
the contiguous zone
the exclusive economic zone
the high seas

6. Government Rule: non-interference Recognition doctrines:
the Tobar doctrine (ref. Carlos R. Tobar (1854 – 1920)
the Estrada doctrine (ref. Genaro Estrada (1887 – 1937)

7. Capacity to enter into relations with other States
Rule: sovereign equality
Recognition theories:
Constitutive theory
Declaratory theory

8. Capacity to enter into relations with other States
Recognition forms:
De jure
De facto 8

9. State succession Succession to treaties: absorption and merger
cession of territory from one State to another
separation from an existing State to form a new State or States
dissolution of States
“newly independent States”