Establishing Criteria for Statehood and Recognition: Cases of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Research Brief)

The main task of this research is to find clarity in definitions of statehood and recognition of new states from both legal and political perspectives and offer a new framework that will be the capstone of future decision-making. The main problem in this area of foreign policy - making is that there is an overlap between international law and politics and that there are no strictly held guidelines or criteria for the process of recognition. This research seeks to develop sufficiently comprehensive and effective normative and procedural provisions for addressing claims by non-state groups. By establishing such a framework, the international community will be better prepared to face future challenges of entities seeking statehood.

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Dragica Fridl, of Johns Hopkins University, was a 2003-04 Short-Term Travel Grants fellow.