ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the legal and political predicaments behind bilateral recognition of states. Recognition identifies territorial political communities that (at least in principle) enjoy the prerogatives of full membership in the international system. The chapter shows that states have a wide range of options for how they can acknowledge the existence of new states, articulated through overt and express forms of recognition. While admission to the UN has become associated with collective recognition, bilateral recognition remains a vital practice for conferring upon and acknowledging the sovereign statehood of a claimant entity. Although bilateral recognition is a discretionary right of states, it is considered a wrongful act when it is conferred prematurely or in breach of peremptory norms of international law.
