On Friday, October 28th, Professor Christopher J. Borgen and Professor Margaret E. McGuinness, the co-directors of St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law, were panelists at International Law Weekend, the annual conference organized by the American Branch of the International Law Association.
They both spoke on the panel “The Recognition and Non-recognition of States and Governments: Current Issues in U.S. Practice.” For over five years the International Law Association’s Committee on Recognition and Non-Recognition has studied how states do or do not recognize other regimes as states and governments. This panel brought together members from the ILA Committee to discuss the findings of their reports. Professor Borgen is the Co-Rapporteur of the Committee and Professor McGuinness is a member of the Committee. Borgen’s presentation analyzed U.S. diplomatic practice in the recognition and non-recognition of regimes that want to be considered states, including entities like ISIS (that may be trying to become a state) as well as separatist regimes such as South Ossetia in Georgia. McGuinness’s presentation considered the effects of recognition and non-recognition of states and governments in the U.S. court system, including examples from recent federal litigation.
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