Successor state
A successor state is a concept in international relations regarding a sovereign state that has formed over a territory and populace that was previously under the sovereignty of another state. A successor state may or may not acquire a new international legal personality, while a continuing state retains the same international legal personality and all the rights and obligations of a predecessor state. The theory has its roots in 19th-century diplomacy.
Partial and universal state succession
A state succession can be characterized as either being universal or partial. A universal state succession occurs when one state is completely extinguished and its sovereignty is replaced by that of one or more successor states. A partial state succession occurs when successor state succeed only part of a state's land and sovereignty, which continues to exist where succession has not taken place.An example of a partial state succession is the case of the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan. There was no challenge to Pakistan's claim to continue to exist and to retain its membership of the United Nations: it was a continuator and not a successor. Bangladesh eventually was recognized as a new state: it was a successor and had to apply for UN membership.
An example of a universal state succession is the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Neither part claimed any continuity: both the Czech Republic and Slovakia were new successor states.
There are cases where a state is completely extinguished or abolished without having any successor states. Cases like this occur when, for example, one state is annexed or conquered by another and ceases to exist even in nominal form. The most recent case is East Germany, which was completely abolished after the reunification of Germany. The modern state known as Germany is a continuation of West Germany and not a successor state of East Germany.
Rights and obligations
Consequent upon the acquisition of international legal personality, the difficult matter of succession to treaty rights and obligations arises. Succession may refer to the transfer of rights, obligations, or property from a previously well-established predecessor state to its successor state, and can include overseas assets such as diplomatic missions, foreign-exchange reserves, and museum artifacts; and participation in treaties in force at the date of succession or international organizations. In an attempt to codify the rules of succession of states, the 1978 Vienna Convention entered into force on 6 November 1996.Classification of cases
In their application to the acquisition of independence, distinctions should be drawn between different cases though the line of demarcation is not always clear:- Bilateral and multilateral treaties necessarily give rise to different considerations.
- There are real treaties and personal treaties. Real treaties affect the territory itself, such as boundary agreements or the grant of transit rights, which can continue irrespective of the personality of the state. The new state must take over the country in the condition in which it finds it, as the parent state cannot give more than it possesses. Such treaties can be described as "treaties creating purely local obligations."
Exceptions to orderly succession
Afghanistan
The Taliban state in Afghanistan became the de facto government of nearly all the country in the mid-1990s, but the Afghan Northern Alliance was still recognised by many nations and retained the UN seat. In 2021, the Taliban again took power, but it does not have the Afghanistan UN seat, which is still held by representatives appointed by the former government.China
The People's Republic of China was established in 1949 in mainland China and claimed succession from the Republic of China. The ROC's territory was reduced to mainly the island of Taiwan, who took control from Japan in 1945, although it continues to claim control of the mainland. At the start of the Cold War the PRC was recognized by few states; the ROC continued to represent "China" in the United Nations and hold the permanent seat on the UN Security Council. In 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the UN through General Assembly Resolution 2758; this followed a trend of greater recognition for the PRC at the expense of the ROC. Although the resolution makes no mention of Taiwan, the ROC continues to be unrepresented within the United Nations but exercises sovereignty over the Taiwan Area. In addition to the Chinese mainland, the ROC also claims borderlands unclaimed by the PRC, most notably Outer Mongolia.In Chinese history, periods of prolonged political division and dynastic transition saw the existence of more than one claimant to "China" at the same time. China was politically divided during several sustained periods historically, with two or more states simultaneously existing on territories associated with "China" and claiming to represent "China". Examples include the Three Kingdoms, Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern and Southern dynasties, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods, Warlord Era and the Chinese Soviet Republic among others. Just as the PRC and the ROC formally claim exclusive mandate over the entirety of China, historical Chinese dynasties that existed during periods of sustained political disunity often claimed exclusive Chinese politico-cultural orthodoxy at the expense of others.
During dynastic transitions, it was rare for one dynasty to end abruptly and transition smoothly to a new one, resulting in the existence of more than one entity claiming to be "China". For instance, during the Ming–Qing transition, the Ming dynasty existed alongside the Qing dynasty for a period before 1644. The predecessor of the Qing dynasty, the Later Jin dynasty, was established in 1616 and ruled over Northeast China whilst the Ming dynasty ruled over China proper. Following the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, remnants of the Ming imperial family, whose regime is known in historiography as the Southern Ming dynasty, continued to rule parts of southern China until 1662. Multiple ephemeral regimes also existed during this period, including the Shun and Xi dynasties on mainland China, and the Ming loyalist Kingdom of Tungning on Taiwan.
Republic of Ireland
, then called the Irish Free State, seceded from the United Kingdom in December 1922, under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty that had been signed exactly a year earlier, in December 1921. The new state took the view that when a new state comes into being after formerly being part of an older state, its acceptance of treaty relationships established by the older state is a matter for the new state to determine by express declaration, or by conduct in the case of each individual treaty. In practice, however, the Irish regarded the commercial and administrative treaties of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland previously applying to the territory of the Irish Free State as remaining in force.Israel
Israel took the view that, by virtue of its declaration of independence in 1948, a new international personality from Mandatory Palestine was created, and that it started with a clean slate, and was bound only by such of the former international obligations affecting the territory as Israel might accept.Kampuchea/Cambodia
When Democratic Kampuchea led by Pol Pot was militarily displaced by the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea, the country's United Nations seat was held by Democratic Kampuchea for many years. It is now held by the Kingdom of Cambodia.Korea
When the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was formed in 1919, it claimed continuity directly from the Korean Empire which preceded the peninsula's 1910 Japanese annexation. These claims were reiterated by South Korea, which itself claimed continuity from the provisional government. An important tenet of South Korea's national identity is that the 35-year period of Japanese rule is internationally recognized as an illegal occupation. South Korea resumed membership to international organizations such as the Universal Postal Union and re-affirmed that pre-1910 treaties were still in force.Ottoman Empire/Turkey
There is some debate over whether the modern Republic of Turkey is a continuing state to the Ottoman Empire or a successor. The two entities fought on opposing sides in the Turkish War of Independence, and even briefly co-existed as separate administrative units : Turkey with its capital in Angora and the Ottoman Empire from Constantinople, but this type of scenario is also common in civil wars. The Turkish National Movement, led by Mustafa Kemal who defected from the Ottoman Army, established the modern republic as a nation-state by defeating the opposing elements in the Turkish War of Independence. There remains debate about whether the conflict was a war of independence, or a civil war that led to a regime change.The question of state succession is relevant to the issue of Armenian genocide reparations.
Pakistan
After Pakistan was created in 1947, it claimed that it was automatically a member of the United Nations. The United Nations Secretariat, however, expressed the following opinion:Soviet Union/Russian Federation
The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, which together with its Ukrainian SSR and Byelorussian SSR as separate United Nations members, co-founded the United Nations in 1945.The Russian Federation succeeded to the Soviet Union's United Nations membership, including its permanent membership on the Security Council of the United Nations. Russia accounted for more than 75% of the Soviet Union's economy, the majority of its population and 75% of its land mass; in addition, the history of the Soviet Union began in Russia with the October Revolution in 1917 in Petrograd. If there was to be a successor to the Soviet seat on the Security Council among the former Soviet republics, these factors made Russia seem a logical choice. In a letter dated 24 December 1991, the Russian president Boris Yeltsin informed the Secretary-General that the membership of the USSR in the Security Council and all other United Nations organs was being continued by the Russian Federation with the support of the nine member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. All Soviet embassies became Russian embassies.