ECLT Seminar: ‘Statehood as Political Community’ – Alex Green University of York
Location:
Moot Court Room,
Old College
Date/time
Thu 7 November 2024
15:00-17:00
This is a seminar organised by the Edinburgh Centre for Legal Theory. The speaker, Alex Green from the University of York, will be presenting his book on ‘Statehood as Political Community’.
Our seminars consist of a 30-minute presentation given by the author, followed by a 60 to 90-minute Q&A. This is not a pre-read event, but you can find Alex’s book at Cambridge University Press following this link.
Author bio: Alex is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York. His publications have appeared in periodicals such as the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, the Australian Year Book of International Law, Transnational Legal Theory, and the European Human Rights Law Review. His research has been funded by the Modern Law Review Covid-19 Response Fellowship and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. In addition to authoring Statehood as Political Community (CUP 2024), Alex has coauthored (with Professor Jennifer Hendry) Legal Pluralism: New Trajectories in Law (Routledge 2024). His work on statehood has been cited by the United Nations International Law Commission, the UK International Development Committee, and has informed debate within the House of Lords.
Abstract: Statehood as Political Community 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. The text has been described by reviewers as a 'brilliant rethinking of an area that deserves better than doctrinal repetition', 'a must-read for positivist and non-positivist international lawyers, alike', and an 'original and compelling philosophical account of the international law of state creation'.