IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/intorg/v65y2011i03p433-467_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Friends in High Places: International Politics and the Emergence of States from Secessionism

Author

Listed:
  • Coggins, Bridget

Abstract

State emergence is an essential dynamic of the international system, yet international relations scholars pay it little attention. Their oversight is all the more unfortunate because international politics ultimately determine which aspiring system members will succeed in becoming new states. Existing models of state emergence rely exclusively on internal or domestic-level explanations. However, the international system is inherently social; therefore any aspiring state's membership also depends on the acceptance of its peers. I present a novel, international-level model of state birth that suggests state leaders should use decisions regarding new members strategically to advance their own interests, not passively abide by domestic factors. I test this argument using a new data set on secessionism and Great Power recognition (1931–2000). I find that external politics have important, underappreciated effects on state emergence. Furthermore, acknowledging the politics of recognition's centrality to state birth alters our understanding of civil conflict dynamics and conflict resolution and suggests important implications for system-wide stability.

Suggested Citation

  • Coggins, Bridget, 2011. "Friends in High Places: International Politics and the Emergence of States from Secessionism," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(3), pages 433-467, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:65:y:2011:i:03:p:433-467_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020818311000105/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, 2023. "Choosing tactics: The efficacy of violence and nonviolence in self-determination disputes," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(1), pages 124-140, January.
    2. Kelle, Friederike Luise & Sienknecht, Mitja, 2020. "To fight or to vote: Sovereignty referendums as strategies in conflicts over self-determination," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2020-101, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    3. Nicholas Sambanis & Micha Germann & Andreas Schädel, 2018. "SDM: A New Data Set on Self-determination Movements with an Application to the Reputational Theory of Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(3), pages 656-686, March.
    4. Nadav G Shelef & Yael Zeira, 2023. "International recognition and support for violence among nonpartisans," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(4), pages 588-603, July.
    5. Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham & Reyko Huang & Katherine M. Sawyer, 2021. "Voting for Militants: Rebel Elections in Civil War," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(1), pages 81-107, January.
    6. Trace Lasley & Clayton Thyne, 2015. "Secession, legitimacy and the use of child soldiers," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 32(3), pages 289-308, July.
    7. Martijn Huysmans & Christophe Crombez, 2017. "Making exit costly but efficient: the political economy of exit clauses and secession," LICOS Discussion Papers 39717, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    8. Faisal Z. Ahmed, 2022. "From grievances to civil war: The impact of geopolitics," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 427-451, July.
    9. R Joseph Huddleston, 2020. "Continuous recognition: A latent variable approach to measuring international sovereignty of self-determination movements," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 57(6), pages 789-800, November.
    10. Nils-Christian Bormann & Burcu Savun, 2018. "Reputation, concessions, and territorial civil war," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 55(5), pages 671-686, September.
    11. Martijn Huysmans & Christophe Crombez, 2020. "Making exit costly but efficient: the political economy of exit clauses and secession," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 89-110, March.
    12. Griffiths, Ryan D. & Guillén, Pablo & Martinez i Coma, Ferran, 2013. "Between the Sword and the Wall: Spain's Limited Options for Catalan Secessionism," Working Papers 2013-17, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    13. Nadav G. Shelef & Yael Zeira, 2017. "Recognition Matters!," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(3), pages 537-563, March.
    14. Jov{z}e P. Damijan & Sandra Damijan & Osiris Jorge Parcero, 2024. "Is there a size premium for nations?," Papers 2401.05116, arXiv.org.
    15. Thomas Denk & Sarah Lehtinen, 2016. "Two modes of democratisation: transition and state-formation," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 2331-2346, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:65:y:2011:i:03:p:433-467_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ino .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.