Scott Pegg - International Society and the De Facto State

Originally published in 1998, International Society and the De Facto Society was the first substantive attempt to theoretically and conceptually investigate the phenomenon of de facto statehood in contemporary international relations. The de facto state is almost the inverse of what Robert Jackson has termed the quasi-state. The quasi-state has an ambassador, a flag, and a seat at the United Nations, but it does not function positively as a viable governing entity. Its limitations though, do not detract from its sovereign legitimacy. The de facto state, on the other hand, is a secessionist entity that provides governance, controls territory and receives popular support. Yet, its empirical effectiveness and extended persistence fail to translate into widespread recognition of its proclaimed sovereignty, and it remains in the precarious position of being seen as a fundamental threat to the international club of sovereign states that it desperately wants to join and whose norms it seeks to emulate. Rather than condemn them for not being sovereign states, International Society and the De Facto State presents these entities as a distinct type of actor in international relations that merits comparative academic study. De facto states highlighted in this book include Eritrea before it won its independence from Ethiopia, the Republic of Somaliland, Tamil Eelam and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Other contemporary cases include Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria. This book has stood the test of time, continues to be widely cited and remains the core or foundational text of the growing and increasingly vibrant sub-field of de facto state studies.

First published in 1998

by Ashgate Publishing Limited

This edition first published in 2019 by Routledge

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1998 Scott Pegg

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The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

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A Library of Congress record exists under LCCN: 98037112

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-37522-5 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-429-35484-7 (ebk)

When I started working on this book more than two decades ago, I had absolutely no idea it would catch on the way that it did, or that it would be cited hundreds of times, or that dozens of scholars would subsequently develop an entire vibrant subfield of de facto state studies - which continues to attract promising new graduate students today.

This books fundamental contribution remains that it was the first substantive attempt to theoretically and conceptually investigate de facto states secessionist entities that persist over time, provide governance, control territory, receive popular support, and seek but do not receive widespread recognition of their proclaimed sovereignty. Rather than mimicking ritualistic condemnations of their illegality in a world whose political map was frozen by widely recognized sovereign states, International Society and the De Facto State presented these entities as a distinct type of actor in international relations, which merited comparative academic study of who they were, how they were created, what impacts they had on their own citizens, regional security and world politics and what their potential future stasis or evolution might be.

This book has been critiqued in several different ways. Some of the more common critiques have highlighted its lack of focus on Eurasian or post-Soviet de facto states, placing too much emphasis on external/foreign policy/international relations dynamics and not enough emphasis on internal nation - and state - building strategies in these entities, as well as various questions about specific elements of how I defined de facto states, with suggestions to change, modify or drop some of those parameters. The books sunny assessment of the prospects for cooperation between Ethiopia and Eritrea was proved decisively wrong almost immediately after its publication, as those two countries embarked on a brutal and anachronistic war over a small border town which produced much human suffering and chilled their relations for the better part of the next two decades. Yet, in a supreme irony, relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea are better today when this book is being reissued than they have been at any previous point in time.

The subfield of de facto state studies has expanded dramatically since this book was published. Much productive scholarly attention has been devoted to explaining the internal dynamics and domestic nation- and state-building processes of these entities. A whole stream of the literature has highlighted how a lack of sovereign recognition conditions but does not prohibit their democratic, institutional, and political development. Another stream of literature highlights the various ways these entities can be or have been extensively engaged without recognizing their sovereignty. Perhaps most impressively, there has been a huge volume of detailed empirical research based on extensive fieldwork and original data, which has profoundly enriched our understanding of de facto states. Less impressively, the subfield of de facto state studies continues to be riven by fighting over definitions, terminology and the specific number of these entities in historical or current existence. The reissue of this book will not solve these problems, but it will provide renewed insight into how this field of study originated and has subsequently evolved and developed over time.

I am extremely grateful and happy to share this subfield of study with so many wonderful scholars and colleagues. Over the years, I have been fortunate to meet, collaborate, co-author, share conference panels and/or regularly interact with friends such as Tozun Bahcheli, Eiki Berg, Nina Caspersen, Miki Fabry, Adrian Florea, Deon Geldenhuys, Ryan Griffiths, Tom Hoch, Markus Hoehne, John Ishiyama, Alex Jeffrey, Pal Kolst, Fiona McConnell, Ken Menkhaus, Diego Muro, Donnacha Beachin, Giulia Prelz Oltramonti, Ian Spears, Gzim Visoka, Michael Walls and Alice Wilson. Ive also occasionally exchanged e-mails with and/or reviewed or been impressed by the scholarship of dozens of others including Vladimir Baar, Kristen Bakke, Barry Bartmann, Helge Blakkisrud, Dimitris Bouris, Lawrence Broers, Kristy Buzard, Aurlie Campana, Bridget Coggins, Giorgio Comai, Bruno Coppieters, James Crawford, Magdalena Dembiska, Bohumil Dobro, John Doyle, Irene Fernndez-Molina, Benjamin A. T. Graham, James Grzybowski, Tobias Hagmann, Ben Horne, Daria Isachenko, Martha Johnson, Diren Kanol, James Ker-Lindsay, Charles King, Paul Kingston, Sebastian Tadeusz Klich, Lucas Knotter, Vladimir Kolossov, Vincenc Kopeek, Nur Kprl, Marcin Kosienkowski, Gzim Krasniqi, Ene Kuusk, George Kyris, Dov Lynch, Benjamin MacQueen, Sergey Markedonov, Frdric Mrand, Ted Newman, John OLoughlin, Nicu Popescu, Vladimir Rauta, Rebecca Richards, Martin Riegl, Meg Smaker, Franziska Smolnik, Emil Souleimanov, Henry Srebnik, Gareth Stansfield, Oisin Tansey, Gerard Toal, Raul Toomla, Ann Tsurtsumia-Zurabashvili, Hilmi Ulas, Kristel Vits, Yaniv Voller, Silvia von Steinsdorff, Vincent Wei-Cheng Wang, Sigrid Winkler, and Galina Yemelianova. Apologies to anyone I have left out. Its absolutely amazing that so many people remain so interested in such small, fragile and marginalized entities as de facto states. Your work sustains and nourishes my interest in this field of study.