Geopolitics of sovereignty, state failure and unrecognized states - JPM300

• Title: Geopolitics of sovereignty, state failure and unrecognized states
• Guaranteed by: Department of Political Science (23-KP)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2022
• Semester: winter
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: winter s.:
• Hours per week, examination: winter s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 10 / unknown (5)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: doc. Martin Riegl, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Mgr. Bohumil Doboš, Ph.D.; doc. Martin Riegl, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students
• Incompatibility : JPM734
• Is incompatible with: JPM734

Annotation

Last update: Mgr. Bohumil Doboš, Ph.D. (13.09.2019)

This course explains post-Second War world in terms of division between parts of the world, without fully functioning states, sovereign states, concerned with territorial sovereignty and post-modern states, in which sovereignty is not based on absolute control over territory. The aim of this course is to provide students with a basic knowledge of the geographic criteria for statehood, functions of the state, the positive and negative sovereignty, international recognition and erosion of sovereignty.

Literature

Last update: doc. Martin Riegl, Ph.D. (26.11.2022)

Required readings for the seminars are available in Moodle.

Required readings:

BERAN, H. (1984). A Liberal Theory of secession. In: Political Studies, Vol. 32.

BIRCH, A. H. (1984). Another Liberal Theory of Secession. In: Political Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3, p. 596 - 602. 

CRAWFORD, J. (2006). The Creation of States in International Law (2nd edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

FABRY, M. (2013). Theorizing State Recognition. International Theory. Vol.5 no. 1.

GROS, J. G. (1996). Towards a taxonomy of failed states in the New World Order: decaying Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda and Haiti. In: Third World Quarterly. Vol. 17, No. 3, s. 455-472.

HERACLIDES, A. (1990). Secessionist Minorities and External Involvement. International Organization.

HERBST, J. (1996-1997). Responding to State Failure in Africa. In International Security. p. 120-144.

JACKSON, R.H. (1993): Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

KAPLAN, R. (1994). The Coming Anarchy. In: The Atlantic Monthly, February.

http://www.TheAtlantic.com/atlantic/election/connection/foreign/anarcf.htm

Montevideo Convention: http://caselawofeu.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Montevideo-Convention-on-the-Rights-and-Duties-of-States.pdf 

PEGG, S. (1998): De facto States in the International System, working paper no. 21, Institute of International Relations, The University of British Columbia.
http://www.iir.ubc.ca/site_template/workingpapers/webwp21.pdf

PEGG, S. (2017). Twenty Years of de facto State Studies: Progress, Problems, and Prospects.

RIEGL, M., DOBOŠ, B. et al. (2017). Unrecognized States and Secession in the 21st Century. Springer.

RIEGL, M., DOBOŠ, B. (2018). Power and Recognition: How (Super)Powers Decide the International Recognition Process. Politics & Policy, July 2018.

RIEGL, M., DOBOŠ, B., BEČKA, J. (2018). Independent Territories Revisited? The Concept of Partially Independent Territories (PITs) and the Role of Such Territories in the International System. Territory, Politics, Governance.

STANISLAWSKI, B. H. (2008). Para-States, Quasi-States, and Black Spots: Perhaps Not States, But Not Ungoverned Territories, Either. In International Studies Review, Vol. 10, s. 366 - 396.

STERIO, M. (2013). On the Right to External Self-Determination: “Selfistans,” Secession, and the Great Powers’ Rule. Minnesota Journal of International Law. Vol.19, No.1.

WILLIAMS (2008): From the New Middle Ages to a New Dark Age: the Decline of the State and U.S. Strategy: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub867.pdf

WWW.systemicpeace.org

ZAHAR,E. (2016). A New Typology of Contemporary Armed NonState-Actors: Interpreting The Diversity. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.

Recommended reading:

 

BACCHELI,T., BARTMANN, B., SREBRNIK, H. (2005). Introduction: A new world of emerging states, In: BACCHELI,T., BARTMANN, B., SREBRNIK, H. (2005): De facto States: The quest for sovereignty, London and New York, Routledge. 

BARTMANN, B. (2005). Political realities and legal anomalies: Revisiting the politics of international recognition, In: BACCHELI,T., BARTMANN, B., SREBRNIK, H. (2005): De facto States: The quest for sovereignty, London and New York, Routledge. 

CLAPHAM, CH. (2005). Africa and The International System: The Politics of State Survival. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 

COOPER, R. (2000): Postmodern State and the World Order, Demos. 
http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/thepostmodernstate

FABRY, M. (2010). Recognizing States: International Society and the Establishment of New States Since 1776. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

FRIEDRICHS, J. (2001). The Meaning of New Medievalism. European Journal of International Relations. pp. 475 - 502.

FUKUYAMA, F. (2004) State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century. Cornell University Press. Ithaca, New York.

HERBST, J. (2000). States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Autority and Control, Princetown: Princetown University Press. 

HOROWITZ, D. L. (2000). Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley - Los Angeles - London: University of California Press. 

JAMES, A. (1999). The Practice of Sovereign Statehood in Contemporary International Society. In: Political Studies, Vol. 47, pp. 457 - 473.

KRASNER, S. D. (1999). Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

KOLSTO, P., Blakkisrud. H. (2012). Dynamics of de facto statehood: the South Caucasian de facto states between secession and sovereignty. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. pp. 281 - 289.

LYNCH, D. (2004): Engaging Eurasia's Separatist States: Unresolved Conflicts and De Facto States, United States Institute of Peace, Washington. 

MCCONNELL, F. (2010). The Fallacy and the Promise of the Territorial Trap: Sovereign Articulations of Geopolitical Anomalies, Geopolitics, 762 - 768.

MCCOLL, R. W. (1969). The Insurgent States: Territorial Bases of Revolution. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Vol. 59, no. 4, s. 61-63. ISSN: 0004-5608.

MCGARRY, J. (2005) De facto states and the international order. In: Baccheli, T., Bartmann, B., Srebrnik, H. (2005) De facto States: The quest for sovereignty, London and New York, Routledge.

MINAHAN, J. (1996). Nations without States: A Historical Dictionary of Contemporary National Movements. Greenwood. Appendix: List of stateless nations.

O’LOUGHLIN, KOLOSSOV, V. & Gerard TOAL, G. (2014). Inside the post-Soviet de facto states: a comparison of attitudes in Abkhazia, Nagorny Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Transnistria, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 55:5, 423-456.

PHILPOTT, D. (2001). Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

TAYLOR, P. (1999): The United Nations in the 1990s: Proactive Cosmpolitanism and the Issue of Sovereignty, Political Studies, vol. 47, č. 3, s. 538 - 565.

TILLY, C. (1975). The Formation of National States in Europe. New Jersey: Princetown University Press. Chapters 1, 2 and 9.

ZARTMANN, W. I. (1995): Collapsed States: The Desintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Requirements to the exam

Last update: Mgr. Bohumil Doboš, Ph.D. (13.09.2019)

The final test (final week) accounts for 80% of the total grade (questions are chosen from all course lectures and required literature). The midterm test (week 7) accounts for 20% of the final grade. Students must pass the requirements of the seminar (regular attendance, readings, and a presentation).

The final assessment is marked as following:

100 % - 91 % ...A

90 % - 81 % ... B

80 % - 71 % ... C

70 % - 61 % ... D

60 % - 50 % ... E

Less than 50 % ... F

 

Syllabus

Last update: doc. Martin Riegl, Ph.D. (26.09.2023)

Lecturer: Martin Riegl
Office hours: Wednesday 5pm
E-mail: [e-mail]
Academic Year 2018/2019

The class runs as a lecture.

1) Introduction - development of the world political map

2) Definitions of state, mythology of statehood, criteria of the sovereign state, territorial and governmental legitimacy

Reading:

a) Montevideo convention: http://caselawofeu.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Montevideo-Convention-on-the-Rights-and-Duties-of-States.pdf

Further reading: 

b) GLASSNER, M. I., de BLIJ, H. J. (1989): Systematic Political Geography, John Wiley & Sons, New York - Chichester - Brisbane - Toronto - Singapore. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X9HzzZ0yHCsPHqTS4m0MmcRvezooaogC/view?usp=sharing

3) Typology of non-sovereign political entities (dependent territories, colonies, protectorates, associated states etc.)

Reading:

a) RIEGL, M., DOBOŠ, B., BEČKA, J. (2018). Independent Territories Revisited? The Concept of Partially Independent Territories (PITs) and the Role of Such Territories in the International System. Territory, Politics, Governance.

Further reading: 

b) MINAHAN, J. (1996). Nations without States: A Historical Dictionary of Contemporary National Movements. Greenwood. Appendix: List of stateless nations.

c) GLASSNER, M. I., de BLIJ, H. J. (1989): Systematic Political Geography, John Wiley & Sons, New York - Chichester - Brisbane - Toronto - Singapore. 

4) Geopolitics and typology of anomalous political units (quasi, almost, para, pseudo, failed, anarchic, ramshackle states…), typology of quasi-states

Reading:

 a) STANISLAWSKI, B. H. (2008). Para States, Quasi-states, and Black Spots: Perhaps Not States, But Not "Ungoverned Territories", Either. International Studies Review. Vol. 10, no. 2, s. 366-396. ISSN:1521-9488. (EBSCO)

5) Internal and External sovereignty after 1945

Reading:

a) JACKSON, R.H. (1993): Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Relations and the Third World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
b) FABRY, M. (2013). Theorizing State Recognition. International Theory. Vol.5 no. 1.

c) STERIO, M. (2013). On the Right to External Self-Determination: “Selfistans,” Secession, and the Great Powers’ Rule. Minnesota Journal of International Law. Vol.19, No.1.

Further reading:

BERG, E., KUUSK, E. (2010). What makes sovereignty a relative concept? Empirical approaches to international society. Political Geography. pp 40 - 49.

 

6) Sovereignty - situations not/derogating from sovereignty)/erosion of sovereignty/premodern, modern and post-modern World

a) CRAWFORD, J. (2006). The Creation of States in International Law (2nd edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

7) Civil wars and state failure, external involvement

Reading:

HERACLIDES, A. (1990). Secessionist Minorities and External Involvement. International Organization.

Further reading:

a) Systemic Peace database
b) MCCOLL, R. W. (1969). The Insurgent States: Territorial Bases of Revolution. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Vol. 59, no. 4, s. 61-63. ISSN: 0004-5608.

8) Theory of secession/Geographic aspect of state failure

Reading:

a) BERAN, H. (1984). A Liberal Theory of Secession. Political Studies. Vol. 32, no. 1, s. 21-31. ISSN: 0032-3217 . (EBSCO)
b) BIRCH, A. H. (1984). Another Liberal Theory of Secession. Political Studies. Vol. 32, no. 3, s. 596-602. ISSN: 0032-3217. (EBSCO)

Further reading:

HERBST, J. (2000): Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control: States and Power in Africa. Princetown: Princetown University Press. ISBN: 0-691-01027-7. (maps)

9) Practice of secession and international recognition

Reading: a) RICH, R. (1993). Symposium: Recent Developments in the Practice of State Recognition. http://www.ejil.org/pdfs/4/1/1207.pdf b) RIEGL, M., DOBOŠ, B. (2018). Power and Recognition: How (Super)Powers Decide the International Recognition Process. Politics & Policy, July 2018. Further reading:b)  FABRY, M. (2010). Recognizing States: International Society and the Establishment of New States Since 1776. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 10) Theories of state failure/Fragile, Failed, Collapsed States - Case studies (DRC, Rwanda, Nigeria, Sudan)

Reading:

a) GROS, J. G. (1996). Towards a taxonomy of failed states in the New World Order: decaying Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda and Haiti. Third World Quarterly. Vol. 17, no. 3, s. 455-471. ISSN: 0143-6597. (EBSCO)

Further reading: 

a) CAST: An Analytical Model for Early Warning and Risk Assessment of Weak and Failing States. [citováno 2009-8-11]. HERBST, J. (1996-1997). Responding to State Failure in Africa. International Security. Vol. 21, no. 

b) ROTBERG, R. I. (2004). Weak and Failing States: Critical New Security Issues. Turkish Policy Quarterly. Vol. 3, no. 2, s. 57-69. ISSN: 1773-0546.

c) LUTTWAK, E. N. (1999). Give a war chance. Foreign Affairs. Vol. 78, no. 4. , s. 36-44. ISSN: 0015-7120. (EBSCO)

d) HERBST, J. (1996-1997). Responding to State Failure in Africa. In International Security. p. 120-144.

11) Unrecognized states/divided states

Reading:
a) PEGG, S. (1998). De Facto States in the International System. Institute of International Relations. The University of British Columbia, Working Paper No. 21.

b) PEGG, S. (2017). Twenty Years of de facto State Studies: Progress, Problems, and Prospects.

c) RIEGL, M., DOBOŠ, B. et al. (2017). Unrecognized States and Secession in the 21st Century. Springer.

12) The New Middle Ages

Reading:

a) WILLIAMS, P. (2008): From the New Middle Ages to a New Dark Age: the Decline of the State and U.S. Strategy: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub867.pdf

b) KAPLAN, R.D. (1994). The Coming Anarchy. The Atlantic Monthly (February). ISSN: 1072-7825. (on-line): http://sobek.colorado.edu/~blimes/Kaplan%20-%20The%20COming%20Anarchy.pdf
3, s. 120-144. ISSN: 0162-2889.

c) ZAHAR,E. (2016). A New Typology of Contemporary Armed NonState-Actors: Interpreting The Diversity. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.

Further reading:

FRIEDRICH, J. (2001). The Meaning of New Medievalism. European Journal of International Relations. pp. 475 - 502.

 

Seminars:

Seminars include a key part of the course. Students are required to read the required literature on a daily basis (available in Moodle) and do one 10-15mins presentation per semester.

2) Definitions: South Rhodesia, Kosovo

 

3) Non-sovereign entities: UK-Gibraltar, France-New Caledonia

 

4) Anomalous political units: Daesh, Donetsk and Lugansk People´s Republics

 

5) Internal and external sovereignty: Somalia, Somaliland

 

6) Sovereignty: post-2003 Iraq, European Union

 

7) Civil wars, state failure, external involvement: Bougainville, Sierra Leone

 

8) Geographic aspects of state failure: Mali, Burkina Faso

 

9) Practice of secession and international recognition: Taiwan, Bangladesh

 

10) Theories of state failure: Venezuela, South Sudan

 

11) Unrecognized states: Abkhazia, Palestine

 

12) The New Middle Ages: Sweden, Libya

 

 

Entry requirements

Last update: RIEGL (17.02.2009)

None