States in general: definition, kinds, rights and the Monroe Doctrine

1. Definition and the elements of statehood

Oppenheim: a State exists when a people is settled in a territory under its own sovereign government. The accepted legal definition is Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, 1933: the State as a person of international law should possess (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with other States.

• Permanent population. No minimum: Nauru and Tuvalu have about ten thousand people. A nomadic population still counts (Western Sahara, ICJ advisory opinion, 1975, discussed nomadic tribes and their ties to the territory).
• Defined territory. Boundaries need not be settled. Israel was admitted to the UN in 1949 with disputed borders. The North Sea Continental Shelf judgment (1969) said there is no rule that land frontiers must be fully delimited.
• Government. An effective government exercising control. Once a State exists, a temporary collapse of government does not end it (Somalia after 1991).
• Capacity to enter into relations, which is really independence: the State must not be subject to the authority of another State. In the Austro-German Customs Union opinion (PCIJ, 1931), Judge Anzilotti described independence as the State having over it no other authority than that of international law.

Some writers add recognition and a legitimate origin (a State created by unlawful force, such as Manchukuo in 1932 or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, has not been accepted).

2. Kinds of States

A. Sovereign or independent States: full external and internal sovereignty, for example India.

B. Composite States.

• Federal State: a union of States with a central government having sovereignty in external affairs; the units have no international personality as a rule (USA, India, Australia). Some federal constitutions allow units a limited treaty power.
• Confederation: an association of sovereign States by treaty for common purposes, the members retaining international personality (the USA under the Articles of Confederation, 1781–1789; the German Confederation 1815–1866; Switzerland before 1848).
• Real union: two States under one monarch with a common foreign policy (Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918); personal union: two States sharing a monarch only (Great Britain and Hanover, 1714–1837).

C. Dependent or semi-sovereign States.

• Vassal State: under the suzerainty of another, usually with external affairs controlled by the suzerain (Egypt under Turkey in the nineteenth century).
• Protectorate: a State that has placed itself by treaty under the protection of a stronger State, which manages its foreign relations, while retaining some international status (Morocco and Tunisia under France). The ICJ in Rights of Nationals of the United States in Morocco (1952) held that Morocco remained a sovereign State despite the protectorate.
• Mandated and trust territories: the League of Nations mandates (Article 22 of the Covenant) and the UN trusteeship system (Chapter XII of the Charter). All trust territories have now become independent or joined other States; the last, Palau, became independent in 1994.

D. Neutralised States: States whose independence and integrity are guaranteed by treaty on condition that they do not go to war except in self-defence: Switzerland (1815), Belgium (1839, until 1919), Austria (1955).

E. Micro-States: very small States such as Monaco, San Marino and Liechtenstein; many are UN members.

3. Fundamental rights and duties of States

• Independence and sovereignty, including choice of political system.
• Equality: Article 2(1) of the Charter, the principle of sovereign equality of all members.
• Territorial jurisdiction over persons and things within the territory.
• Self-defence: Article 51 of the Charter.
• Duties: not to intervene in the affairs of other States (Article 2(7) for the UN; the custom confirmed in Nicaragua, ICJ, 1986); not to use or threaten force (Article 2(4)); to settle disputes peacefully (Article 2(3)); to fulfil obligations in good faith (Article 2(2)); not to allow its territory to be used to harm other States (Corfu Channel, ICJ, 1949).

4. Intervention

Intervention is dictatorial interference by a State in the affairs of another to maintain or alter the actual condition of things (Oppenheim). It is generally prohibited. In Nicaragua the Court held that US support for the contras (training, arming, financing) breached the principle of non-intervention, and that the mining of Nicaraguan ports breached the prohibition of force. Recognised exceptions: self-defence; action authorised by the Security Council under Chapter VII; intervention at the genuine invitation of the lawful government (disputed). Humanitarian intervention without Security Council authority remains controversial.

5. The Monroe Doctrine

Declared by US President James Monroe in his annual message to Congress on 2 December 1823, at a time when European powers of the Holy Alliance were thought to be planning to help Spain recover its rebellious Latin-American colonies. Three principles:

• Non-colonisation: the American continents are no longer to be considered as subjects for future colonisation by any European power.
• Non-intervention by Europe: any attempt by European powers to extend their system to any part of this hemisphere would be regarded as dangerous to US peace and safety.
• Non-interference by the US in European wars and the internal affairs of European States.

Later development. The Roosevelt Corollary (1904) claimed for the US a police power to intervene in Latin-American States guilty of chronic wrongdoing, which turned the doctrine into a justification for US intervention. Article 21 of the Covenant of the League of Nations referred to “regional understandings like the Monroe doctrine”. Under the UN Charter, regional arrangements are permitted by Article 52, and the Organization of American States (1948) collectivised the principle of non-intervention.

Legal status. The doctrine was a unilateral statement of US policy, not a treaty and not a rule of international law in itself. Its legal value today lies in the non-intervention principle it expressed, which is now part of general international law and of Article 2(4) and 2(7) of the Charter.

How this is examined

The definition-and-kinds essay (January 2026) is answered as above: Montevideo with each element explained, then the kinds under the five headings with examples. The Monroe Doctrine is a frequent six-mark note (June 2025, February 2025 as “significance of the Monroe Doctrine”, August 2024): give the date, the occasion, the three principles, the Roosevelt Corollary, and its present legal status.