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created entity is a sovereign state (subject of international law).
Consequences of the
recognition
are therefore
declaratory
,
that is
,
confirming
existing reality. Recognition
does not constitute rights and duties.
We can also encounter the theoretical approach of, for example, Malenovsky,
that recognition is
primarily declaratory;
17
however, that state which recognizes also
simultaneously shows its willingness to enter into legal relations with the newly created
state and these relations go beyond the prescribed basic rights and duties of states. The
recognition has therefore
important
c
onstitutive consequences. The recognition of a state
has retroactive effect
which goes back to the moment the new state was created.
International law does not oblige
anyone to recognize that entity which conforms
with all the conditions of statehood and leaves other states liberty.
Failure to recognize
a state used to be motivated by
political reasons
,
not by legal arguments (for example,
GDR, the former German Democratic Republic, was not recognized for a long time).
Sometimes even
premature recognition
by a state may occur. For example, Croatia was
recognized in 1992 by Germany, even though the basic elements of a state were not
constituted. Premature recognition may expedite the creation of a state. The political
nature of recognition
does not allow
other states to criticize premature recognition
as
unlawful international behaviour.
These states, however, can consider premature
recognition as an
unfriendly act
and react by extralegal means.
After the Second World War acceptance as a member state of the UN has
become an important recognition. This acceptance does not have the
character of
collective recognition
, however, if the state meets the acceptance conditions of being a
member state of the UN, which conditions are stricter than those required by general
international law for the creation of state; the universal nature of the UN provides
for the undisturbed performance of competences basically anywhere and at any time.
In relation to the creation of new states,
recognition
is important also in the sense
that, even if the newly created entity does not fulfill the
three basic criteria of a state
or
was created in
contradiction to the standards of international law
, this formal deficiency
or non-conformity with the international law can be waived by recognition of the
state by the international community.
Effectivity
, i.e. the
ability to act as a state
can
under certain circumstances prevail over
formal legality.
18
An example is the above
mentioned case of recognition of Bangladesh. The question is how many states must
recognize such an “illegal” state.
17
Ibid
., s. 132.
18
DIXON, M.
Textbook on International Law
. Fourth edition. London: Blackstone Press Limited, 2000,
p. 112.