Power Politics and State Formation in the Twentieth Century
The Dynamics of Recognition

This book argues that the strongest members of the international community have a decisive influence over whether today's secessionists become countries tomorrow.

Bridget Coggins (Author)

9781107047358, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 April 2014

280 pages, 8 b/w illus. 3 maps 10 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.58 kg

'Bridget Coggins has written an admirably clear and rigorously designed and executed study of the birth of states from an international relations perspective. Coggins' argument stresses the decisive role of the international environment, especially the choices made by the Great Powers, in determining the outcome of a movement's struggle for recognition. She details that Great Powers' recognition decisions are based on their own security concerns, on how recognition plays in their own domestic politics, and on their collective view of how recognition would affect the overall stability of international politics, especially Great Power relations. This is a very well-written book on an important, indeed foundational, yet underexplored topic in international relations.' Jack L. Snyder, Columbia University, New York

From Kurdistan to Somaliland, Xinjiang to South Yemen, all secessionist movements hope to secure newly independent states of their own. Most will not prevail. The existing scholarly wisdom provides one explanation for success, based on authority and control within the nascent states. With the aid of an expansive new dataset and detailed case studies, this book provides an alternative account. It argues that the strongest members of the international community have a decisive influence over whether today's secessionists become countries tomorrow and that, most often, their support is conditioned on parochial political considerations.

1. States of uncertainty
2. Statehood in theory and practice
3. Research design and methodology
4. Quantitative analyses
5. International responses to secession in Yugoslavia: selected Yugoslavia timeline (1989–2011)
6. International responses to the Wars of Soviet succession: selected Soviet successor timeline (1989–2011)
7. Conclusions and substantive interpretations
Appendix A. Project codebook
Appendix B. Unique case ID.

Subject Areas: Political control & freedoms [JPV], Central government [JPQ], Political structure & processes [JPH], Political ideologies [JPF], Regional & national history [HBJ], General & world history [HBG]