The League of Nations, Ethiopia and the Making of States
Forthcoming in 10 Humanity, 2019
University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2/2019
34 Pages Posted: 10 Dec 2018 Last revised: 14 Jan 2019
Date Written: November 16, 2018
Abstract
This article takes the Ethiopian case as a lens on how the existence of the League refracted approaches to statehood and belonging for polities on the margins of the “family of nations.” Unlike many other doctrinal or historical treatments, this article does not focus on any one juridical concept or doctrine, such as sovereignty, statehood, or recognition. Rather, it traces the flux within concepts, and the uneasy relation between them, which come to light when public statements in the League are read alongside deliberations within European foreign ministries, and projects of reform pursued in Ethiopia itself. Refocusing on the complexity of contemporary discussions reveals how juridical approaches have shifted over time in their relation to concrete factors such as military force, bureaucratic organization and political structures, and bridges a distinction entrenched by disciplinary demarcations in the secondary literature on statehood and state-making.
Keywords: Statehood, Recognition, International Organizations, Ethiopia
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