Recognizing States and Governments

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International recognition of states confers upon them certain rights and powers. According to justice-based principles, recognition should be conditioned upon certain levels of internal and external justice. Pragmatic principles, on the other hand, they ought to be recognized if cooperating with and supporting them offers the best possibility for peace and justice with and among them, whether or not they individually satisfy the minimal level of justice. The author explains the differences between these two set of criteria and argues that the pragmatic approach is the better of the two.