Normative Standing: De Facto State Identity and International Legitimation Sebastian Tadeusz Klich August 2018 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University © Copyright by Sebastian Tadeusz Klich 2018 All Rights Reserved DECLARATION Unless otherwise acknowledged in the text, this thesis represents the original research of the author. The total word count for this thesis, excluding footnotes, bibliography, and appendices, is 74,244 words. Sebastian Klich 16 August 2018 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, under the leadership of Distinguished Professor Amin Saikal, provided institutional support and a vibrant intellectual environment for this research which greatly stimulated my growth as an aspiring scholar. I owe an unrepayable debt to my two supervisors. Associate Professor Mathew Gray's resolute support, often irrespective of time and physical location, has been invaluable. His belief in me and the research project, and his judicious incisive guidance have required nothing less than the best that I could give. Dr Kirill Nourzhanov became my supervisor in the later stages of the thesis and has been a thoughtful and stalwart bastion of scholarly standards with humour and grace in the collegial den. I am also greatly indebted to several other distinguished academics, who have provided key advice and guidance at crucial stages in the development and implementation of this project. Professor Nina Caspersen at the University of York in the United Kingdom, Associate Professor Jacinta O’Hagan, Director of the Graduate Centre in Governance and International Affairs at the University of Queensland, and Dr Mathew Davies, Director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs in the Department of International Relations at ANU, have all assisted with generous time and insights on relevant theories and gave valued feedback on sectional drafts. My sincere gratitude to all my formal interviewees, and to many other individuals in Nagorno Karabakh, Somaliland, and Kurdistan who selflessly contributed their time and expertise to help this research (some in challenging circumstances) and made me welcome in their countries. I hope you feel that I have tried to do scholarly justice in difficult terrains with honesty, fairness and cultural respect. A special thank you to Dr Raihan Ismail, Dr April Biccum, Dr Jessie Moritz and Kieran Pender at ANU who provided friendship and encouragement, occasional sanity checks and reliable reference points for scholarly values, when it really mattered. I would also like to pay tribute to the work and support of Jacky Sutton, fellow student, whose untimely and tragic death deprived us all of a valued colleague and friend at the Centre. Jacky’s presence and assistance in facilitating meetings in Kurdistan, her willingness to share her knowledge, and her concern for my personal safety will always be remembered. My family’s support has been unwavering. My parents instilled a love of learning and a passion for thought and creative work from the cradle, my two sisters Rosie and Jess illustrate the fact that families exist to ensure you never take yourself too seriously, and their love has been my constant. My research and living costs while undertaking the research were covered by an Australian Postgraduate Award. I also received other grants for fieldwork and travel from the Australian National University, and I consider myself fortunate to have studied there. 3 ABSTRACT This thesis makes an original contribution to the field of de facto state studies. The robustness and durability of de facto states in the post-Cold War era has defied scholars’ earlier predictions of likely impermanence. In the de facto states literature that followed, a focus on rational choice approaches permeated the analysis of these states’ international engagement, however the concept of de facto state identity and how it shapes the relationship with international society has yet to be fully explored and analysed. A recent trend towards examining the legitimation strategies of de facto states has been restricted by an under-conceptualisation of the social system that they inhabit, restricting the explanatory utility of legitimacy as an analytical lens. Rather than an abnormality, non-recognition has been the norm in the relationship between de facto states and international society. A stasis has formed. The under-conceptualisation of the relationship has remained a partial void that has limited the understanding of a phenomenon that continues to challenge central concepts in the discipline of International Relations. The core objective of this thesis is to address that conceptual need by synthesising constructivist and English School approaches to build a conceptual framework of normative standing that enables a clearer articulation of the relationship between de facto states and international society. It employs a constructivist methodology to examine the recognition narrative of de facto states, in order to conduct constitutive analysis of their state identities, and to build the foundations of a theory of normative standing. Three case studies, with varying degrees of international engagement and parent state relationships, were selected for the examination of the application of the conceptual framework. Together, they provide for an effective generalisation across the spectrum of de facto states. The three case studies ― Nagorno Karabakh, Somaliland, and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ― were informed by fieldwork interviews conducted in situ. The theory of normative standing proposed by this thesis proves to be a useful tool to explain de facto states' endurability, how de facto statehood has itself become a role identity in the international system, and the stasis of the relationship between de facto states and international society. 4 Table of Contents DECLARATION ....................................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 7 1.1 OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 THE DE FACTO STATES LITERATURE ......................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Theoretical Engagement in the De Facto States Literature .............................................. 12 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS, APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 16 1.3.1 Research questions ............................................................................................................................... 16 1.3.2 A note on terminology ......................................................................................................................... 16 1.3.3 Selected case studies ............................................................................................................................ 18 1.3.4 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 20 1.3.5 Interview selection and methods ................................................................................................... 22 1.4 THE SCOPE OF THE THESIS ........................................................................................................................ 23 1.5 THE STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS .............................................................................................................. 25 CHAPTER TWO: DE FACTO STATES AND THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM ...................... 28 2.1. DE FACTO STATES AND SOVEREIGNTY .................................................................................................. 28 2.2 DE FACTO STATES IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM ........................................................................... 33 2.2.1 Defining the De Facto State .............................................................................................................. 35 2.2.2 De Facto States in the International System ............................................................................ 38 2.2.3 De Facto State Identity in the International System ............................................................. 46 2.2.4 The Ontological Status of the State............................................................................................... 51 2.3 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY AND THE POLITICS OF RECOGNITION ....................................................... 58 2.3.1 De Facto States in International Law .......................................................................................... 58 2.3.2 The Practice of State Recognition ................................................................................................. 61 2.3.3 Recognition after the Cold War ...................................................................................................... 67 2.4 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................................