Rejection and Mimesis: Unrecognized Statehood and International Society since Decolonization

This dissertation examines how state recognition practice evolved since decolonization and the effects of this evolution on state-formation projects in contemporary unrecognized states. It focuses on the cases of the Republic of Biafra, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), and the Republic of Abkhazia to illustrate the interactions between two historical processes. The first is the normative changes in recognition criteria seen after periods of substantial international expansion. For example, the end of colonialism after World War II or the dissolution of the Communist Bloc at the beginning of the 1990s. The second is how secessionist projects developed in entities whose purported statehood was internationally rejected when they emerged as global actors. Hence, this dissertation questions how recognition practice evolved politically and conditioned state-formation efforts in de facto states. It is argued that, as international acceptance is the raison d’être for these entities, their desire to mimic sovereign states and follow their norms have marked their political history.