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Recognition and Self-Determination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Quincy Wright
Quincy Wright*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Abstract

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Type
Second Session
Information
Proceedings of the American Society of International Law at its annual meeting (1921-1969) , Volume 48 , 1954 , pp. 23 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1954

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References

1 Afghanistan (13), China (460, 15), Denmark (4), Ethiopia (16), France (42, 54), Iran (19), Netherlands (10, 1), Russia (109, 33), Sweden (7), Thailand (19), Turkey (21), United Kingdom (50, 87). The figures in parentheses indicate the population (1953) in millions of the metropole, followed by that of imperial domains, if any. In the case of Russia, the Ukraine and Byelorussia are omitted because they are independent Members of the United Nations, and the Soviet republics, other than the U.S.F.S.B., are treated as imperial domains.

2 Austria (7), Germany (Prussia) (70), Italy (Sardinia) (47, 1), Japan (86), Portugal (9, 11), Spain (29, 2), Switzerland (5).

3 This figure results from adding those in notes 1 and 2.

4 Burma (19), Byelorussia (9), Cambodia (4), Ceylon (8), India (357), Indonesia (78), Israel (2), Jordan (1), Korea (28), Laos (1), Lebanon (1), Libya (1), Mongolia (1), Nepal (7), Pakistan (76), Philippines (22), Sudan (9), Syria (4), Ukraine (41), VietiNam (23).

5 Australia (9, 1), Canada (15), Czechoslovakia (12), Egypt (21), Finland (4), Iceland (1), Iraq (5), Ireland (3), Hungary (9), New Zealand (2), Poland (26), Saudi Arabia (6), South Africa (13, 1), Yemen (5).

6 Albania (1), Argentina (18), Belgium (9, 15), Bolivia (3), Brazil (54), Bulgaria (7), Chile (6), Colombia (11), Costa Eica (1), Cuba (6), Dominican Republic (2), Ecuador (3), El Salvador (2), Greece (8), Guatemala (3), Haiti (3), Honduras (2), Liberia (2), Luxembourg (1), Mexico (27), Nicaragua (1), Norway (3), Panama (1), Paraguay (1), Peru (9), Eumania (16), Uruguay (2), Venezuela (5), Yugoslavia (17).

7 19 states with a population of 1023 million in the metropoles and 204 million in imperial possessions are older, while sixty-three with a population of 1047 million in the metropoles and 17 million in imperial possessions are younger. Adding the population of the United States (161, 3) and that of five minute European states (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City) and of five small Asiatic states (Bhutan, Kuweit, Oman, Qatar, Trucial Sheiks) (1), the population of the world is 2456 million, of which 224 million are still non-self-governing. Of this population the sixty Members of the United Nations govern 2064 million, of which 210 million are non-self-governing, and the 23 non-members govern 391 million, of which 14 million are non-self-governing. The non-members include nineteen states which have applied for membership (five with Soviet sponsorship (34) and fourteen with Western sponsorship (241, 12)), and four (Germany, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland) (113, 2) that have not applied, as well as ten very small states that are probably ineligible to membership (1). s Quincy Wright, Mandates under the League of Nations (University of Chicago Press, 1930), pp. 6 ff.

9 The nationalist school of international lawyers, following the political principles of Mazzini, even asserted a legal right of national self-determination. Count Mamiani, Eights of Nations or the New Law of European States (London, 1860) ; Wright, Mandates, pp. 11 ff.

10 Lavergne, B., Le Principe des Nationalités et les Guerres (Paris, 1921)Google Scholar; Stoyanovski, J., The Mandate for Palestine (London, 1928), p. 53 Google Scholar; Wright, Mandates, pp. 11 ff., 231 ff., 460.

11 Belgian Government Information Center, The Sacred Mission of Civilization : To Which People Should the Benefits be Extended? The Belgian Thesis (New York, 1953). This includes official statements by Foreign Minister Van Zeeland, and Delegates Eyekman and Van Langenhove in the United Nations General Assembly, 1952, and statistics on non-self-governing peoples in thirty-five countries.

12 Schwarzenberger, Georg, International Law as Applied by International Tribunals (London, Stevens, 1945), p. 45 Google Scholar.

13 Rolin, Henri, “International Court of Justice and Domestic Jurisdiction,” International Organization, Vol. 8 (Feb. 1954), pp. 36 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Kelsen, Hans, The Law of the United Nations (London, Stevens, 1950), p. 778 Google Scholar.

15 North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration, 1910 (United States and Great Britain), 1 Scott, Hague Court Reports 157; Tunis Nationality Decrees Case, 1923 (France and Great Britain), 1 Hudson, World Court Reports 157, Schwarzenberger, op. cit., pp. 47 ff.

16 Wimbledon Case (1923) (Allies v. Germany), 1 Hudson, World Court Reports 175; Schwarzenberger, op. cit., p. 49.

17 Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania Peace Treaties, I.C.J. Reports, 1950, pp. 65 ff., American Journal of International Law, Vol. 44 (1950), pp. 742, 745.

18 On the tendency of geographical separation to develop cultural distinctiveness, see Wright, Mandates, p. 4.

19 Wright, Quincy, Control of American Foreign Relations (New York, Macmillan, 1922), pp. 209 ff.Google Scholar; Status of Eastern Carelia (1923), 1 Hudson, World Court Reports 204.

20 Kelsen, op. cit., p. 529. See also Statute, International Court of Justice, Art. 63, and Hudson, M. O., The Permanent Court of International Justice, 1920-1942 (New York, Macmillan, 1943), pp. 421 ffGoogle Scholar.

21 The General Assembly (Res. 748 (VIII), Nov. 27, 1953), asserted: “Bearing in mind the competence of the General Assembly to decide whether a Non-Self-Governing Territory has or has not attained a full measure of self-government as referred to in Chapter XI of the Charter. . . . Recognizes that the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Eico, by expressing their will in a free and democratic way, have achieved a new constitutional status. . . . Recognizes that, when choosing their constitutional and inter national status, the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Eico have effectively exercised their right to self-determination. . . . Considers . . . Chapter XI can no longer be applied.” See also Res. 742 (VIII), Nov. 27, 1953, on “factors.”

22 Wright, Quincy, “Some Thoughts about Recognition,” American Journal of International Law, Vol. 44 (1950), pp. 550 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 The Congress of Westphalia (1648) recognized the independence of The Nether lands and Switzerland, the Paris Conference (1856) recognized that Turkey was entitled to the “advantages of the law and concert of Europe,” the Congress of Vienna recognized the neutralized status of Switzerland, and subsequent conferences recognized that status for Belgium (1839) and Luxembourg (1867). The independent status of Balkan and Arab states carved from the Ottoman empire was in the main effected by collective recognitions. See Graham, Malbone W., The League of Nations and the Recognition of States (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1933)Google Scholar; In Quest of a Law of Recognition (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1933); Lauterpacht, H., Recognition in International Law (Cambridge University Press, 1947), pp. 404 ffGoogle Scholar.

24 “. . . the Court’s opinion is that fifty States, representing the vast majority of the members of the international community, had the power, in conformity with international law, to bring into being an entity possessing objective international personality, and not merely personality recognized by them alone, together with capacity to bring international claims.” Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations, I.C.J. Reports, 1949, p. 174, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 43 (1949), p. 598; Quincy Wright, “Jurai Personality of the United Nations,” ibid., p. 510.

25 Above, note 21.

26 U.N. General Assembly, 8th Sess., Official Records, 4th Committee, 1953, p. 71. See also, International Organization, Vol. 8 (Feb. 1954), p. 97.

27 U.N. General Assembly, 8th Sees., Official Records, 4th Committee, 1953. See also United Nations Bulletin, Vol. 15 (Oct. 15, 1953), p. 343.

28 Dickinson, E. D., The Equality of States under International Law (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 3 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wright, , “Some Thoughts about Recognition,” American Journal of International Law, Vol. 44 (1950), p. 555 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 U.N. General Assembly, 8th Sess., Doe. A/2428; Res. 742 (VIII), Nov. 27, 1953 (Doc. A/2630), pp. 22 ff. See also United Nations Year Book, 1952, p. 564.

30 League of Nations, Minutes, Permanent Mandates Commission, Vol. 20, p. 123; Ritsher, W. H., Criteria of Capacity for Independence (Jerusalem, Syrian Orphanage Press, 1934), p. 5 Google Scholar; Wright, Quincy, “Proposed Termination of the Iraq Mandate,” American Journal of International Law, Vol. 25 (1931), pp. 436 ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

31 Ritsher, op. cit., p. 133.

32 Dodd, Stuart C., “The Scientific Measurement of Fitness for Self-Government,” The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 78 (Feb. 1954), pp. 94 ffGoogle Scholar. See also Deutsch, Karl, Nationalism and Social Communication (New York, John Wiley, 1953)Google Scholar.

33 U.N. General Assembly, Res. 750 (VIII), Dec. 8, 1953.

34 The boundary of the mandated territories of Euanda and Tanganyika was modified under pressure of the League of Nations in order to maintain tribal unity. Wright, Mandates, pp. 119 ff., 129, 518. Demands for ethnic and national unity have increasingly influenced boundary settlements in Europe. Hill, Norman, Claims to Territory in International Law and Relations (London, Oxford University Press, 1945), pp. 115 ff.Google Scholar; Wright, Quincy, A Study of War (University of Chicago Press, 1942), pp. 987 ffGoogle Scholar.

35 Mair, L. P., The Protection of Minorities (London, Christophers, 1928), pp. 174 ff.Google Scholar; Ladas, Stephen P., The Exchange of Minorities—Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (New York, 1932)Google Scholar; Vandenbosch, Amry and Hogan, Willard N., The United Nations—Background, Organization, Functions, Activities (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1952), pp. 276 ffGoogle Scholar.