Unrecognised and New Nations

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

The membership of the Unrecognized Nations and Peoples Organization encompasses more than fifty places, comprising more than 300 million people, and even that is not a complete list of the areas looking to strike out as independent countries of their own. The world map is hidden full of ‘countries that do not exist’. Examples include Somaliland in Africa, Kurdistan in the Middle East and places in the Asia-Pacific like West Papua and the ethnic states of Myanmar. Power politics often lies behind whether and how new countries are born. Sometimes existing states pave the way for new states to join the club of nations and in other instances they seek to frustrate their membership. The United States, as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, has a particularly important role in determining entry to the club of nations. It has supported the arrival of four new countries in the last twenty years. In this course, students will explore the histories and politics of ‘unrecognized countries’, their position within the international system, the politics of recognition and the practicalities of working with these entities. The course covers case studies of unrecognized and newly recognized states (eg Timor-Leste and Bougainville) and the politics behind these variant journeys. It touches on international law, politics, economics and development assistance.