Diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition is a state’s formal acceptance of another state or government as an international counterpart. It signals willingness to treat that entity as possessing international standing, though it does not by itself establish diplomatic relations.

Declaratory theory of statehood: The view that an entity becomes a state by meeting objective criteria, independently of recognition by other states. It explains why recognition can acknowledge statehood without creating it.
Government recognition: A state’s decision to accept a particular authority as the government of an existing state. It concerns who governs a state, rather than whether the state itself exists.
One China policy: The diplomatic policies by which states manage relations with the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan under varying interpretations of one China. It shows how recognition choices shape formal relations across a contested sovereignty claim.
United Nations General Assembly credentials: The process by which the United Nations determines which representatives may occupy a member state’s seat. Credential disputes can express disagreement over which government represents a recognized state.
Constitutive theory of statehood: The view that an entity becomes a state in international law through recognition by existing states. It gives recognition a state-creating role that the declaratory theory rejects.
State recognition: A state’s acceptance of an entity as a state under international law. It isolates the statehood question from recognition of a particular government.
Recognition of Israel: The process by which states formally accepted Israel as a state after its establishment in 1948. It is a prominent case of recognition amid conflict over statehood and borders.
International legal personality: The capacity of an entity to hold rights and duties under international law. Recognition can affect how readily an entity exercises international rights, without alone determining its legal personality.
Montevideo Convention: A 1933 treaty setting out criteria for statehood and principles concerning recognition in the Americas. Its statehood criteria anchor the debate over what recognition formally accepts.
Non-recognition: A policy of refusing to accept a state, government, territorial change, or legal situation as valid. It is the deliberate withholding of the acceptance this concept describes.

Linked from 19 pages