Grzybowski, J. (2024). State Creation Out of Bounds? Pro-Russian Separatists, Da’esh, and (Liberal) International Order-ing. Global Studies Quarterly, 4(2).

Debates about the politics of state creation and recognition and about the supposed crisis of the “liberal international order” intersect where new state creations are regarded as challenges to the (liberal) international order. Cases in point are the secessionist bids of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and their recognition, support, and incorporation by Russia, as well as the even more widely rejected claim of the self-declared Islamic State, or Da’esh, to establish a transnational caliphate across Iraq and Syria. Yet this contribution argues that the claims and contestations articulated in these extreme cases point to ongoing (liberal) international order-ing, rather than its demise. For one, the broadly liberal international law of state creation based on rights and rules has always been inherently contradictory, drawing boundaries to state-making “out of bounds” contingently. For another, the challengers themselves take an ambiguous position vis-à-vis the liberal and international orders that they defy. Russia has justified its recognition of Ukrainian separatists in terms of self-determination under international law, and Da’esh has emulated the modern territorial state that it set out to abolish. The contribution thus shows how contested state creations “out of bounds” also invoke, mimic, and animate the (liberal) international order that they challenge.