Statehood as Political Community

Alex Green argues that states arise under contemporary international law only when two abstract conditions are fulfilled. First emerging states must constitute ''genuine political communities'': collectives within which particular kinds of ethically valuable behaviour are possible. Second such communities must emerge in a manner consistent with the ethical importance of individual political action. This uniquely ''Grotian'' theory of state creation provides a clear legal framework comprising four factual ''antecedents'' and five procedural principles rendering the law of statehood both coherent and normatively attractive.