International Law State's Elements Montevideo Convention simplified

What are the Elements of States under International Law?

Lex Animata by Hesham Elrafei

The Montevideo Conventions on the Rights and Duties of States, require four criteria for statehood:
a permanent population;
a defined territory;
a government;
and the capacity to enter into relations with the other States

International law imposes no lower limit on the size of a population, and recognizes that a population may be nomadic, as The ICJ indicated in the Western Sahara Case.

The territory requirement does not demand a State to have uncontested borders, simply that its territory has sufficient consistency.

The condition of a government does not stipulate any special type of government; it needs only to exercise effective authority over the territory in question.

In particular, there is no requirement that a government be democratic.

the fourth criterion is the ability to enter into international relations with others, which requires recognition of an entity by other states

On the contrary, an entity is not a state unless it has competence
under its constitution to conduct international relations with other states, as well as the political, technical and financial powers to do so.
Thus, the essential requirement of capacity is independence.

Other criteria suggested are a degree of permanence, observance of international law, a degree of civilization, recognition by other States, and the circumstance of constituting a legal order.

#internationallaw #law #internationalrelations #legal #droit