International Law On Establishing a Nation
The criteria for establishing a country (or more precisely, a state) in 1933 were laid out in the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, signed on December 26, 1933, at the Seventh International Conference of American States in Montevideo, Uruguay.
This convention became one of the foundational reference points for international law on statehood and is still cited today, especially in discussions about emerging nations, secession, and recognition.
The Montevideo Convention outlines four essential criteria for statehood in Article 1:
A permanent population
– The state must have people who live there on an ongoing basis.A defined territory
– The state must have land with recognized borders (though not all borders must be settled).A government
– The state must have a functioning government capable of governing the territory and population.The capacity to enter into relations with other states
– The state must be able to engage diplomatically and form agreements with other sovereign states.
Additional Key Points from the Convention:
Article 3 asserts that the political existence of a state is independent of recognition by other states.
Article 11 rejects the use of force to acquire territory, a direct response to events like Japan’s invasion of Manchuria and the lead-up to World War II.