International Organisations, Collective Recognition and Sovereignty Agency in the Pursuit of Statehood

Collective state recognition, usually expressed through international organisations, informs the way in which these bodies engage (or don’t) with those claiming statehood. These are, at a first glance, top-down processes, but are, in fact, also shaped by the statehood claimants who seek recognition. In this context and responding to calls for exploring the agency of those lacking in general recognition (e.g. Bryant and Hatay 2020, Visoka 2021), this paper explores the various ways in which these actors engage with different collective recognition processes. In specific, the paper answers: 1) how do statehood claimants embrace the collective recognition of their right to statehood towards strengthening a case for independence? This is done via the study of Timor-Leste before independence, adding to a literature that tends to concentrate on contemporary examples; 2) how do some statehood claimants use international statebuilding to argue that they have a functioning state and have ‘earned’ (Caspersen 2008) their sovereignty (example: Palestine); 3) in terms of those less recognised, the study of the TRNC allow us to reflect on how they manage to reframe non-recognition and circumvent its impact; 4) Lastly, the paper analyses efforts to come up with an alternative ‘international society’, as exemplified in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. In this way, the paper responds to the workshop’s focus on the role of international organisations but adopts an approach that centers the agency of those seeking recognition rather than those granting it and, by doing so, offers alternative viewpoints of secession and state creation.