Litwa Środkowa jako państwo marionetkowe z perspektywy prawa międzynarodowego

The article concerns the legal status of Central Lithuania as a so-called puppet state from the point of view of international law. The very concept of a puppet state is based upon the apparent fulfilment of the Montevideo criteria — which boils down to the lack of effectiveness. The reasons for establishing such an entity are varied, but they are all politically biased. The points of reference are primarily Bantustans and Manchukuo — they are key instances of puppet states discussed in legal literature. In the case of Poland, the establishment of Central Lithuania was an imminent effect of the Polish-Soviet War. On the one hand, the goal of setting up the Central Lithuania as a puppet state was undoing the effects of the war with totalitarian Soviet Russia using the fait accompli method. On the other hand, it was about the legitimacy of territorial change which occurred as a result of a territorial referendum on the future of the Vilnius region. The key issue related to establishing puppet states is a need to refer to a very formal approach to international law. However, such an approach is not widely supported by legal writings on international law. As the result a puppet state has to face the allegation of being contrafactual since the very moment of its emergence. That means that a territorial change done by establishing a puppet state cannot be eventually legitimized. One of the criteria mentioned in the Montevideo Convention is a “capacity to enter into relations with the other states”. Notwithstanding, it is a precondition or an effect of statehood that capacity reflects the attitude of the international community to the “newly emerged state”. If can clearly be seen in the cases of Bantustans and Manchukuo. So, e.g., Manchukuo maintained consular relations with a few states, including Poland. However, Central Lithuania did not maintain international relations, but it was not relevant in this very case. That is because Central Lithuania existed for a year and a half. In addition, it took place shortly after the end of the First World War and the Polish-Soviet War, and during an ongoing armed conflict between Poland and Lithuania. The illusion of statehood of Central Lithuania was manifested by the establishment of Department of Foreign Affairs, which was not in the position to represent Central Lithuania in the realm of international relations. Most of all, Central Lithuania did not participate in Polish-Lithuanian negotiations — that entity was an object here. Above all, these negotiations concerned the future status of Central Lithuania. The fact that relations with Central Lithuania were within the competencies of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the only argument in favour of acknowledging Central Lithuania as a foreign state in relation to Poland. There was a delegate of Poland at the Provisional Governing Commission. Members of the Provisional Governing Commission were communicating with that delegate, without the need of involving the Department of Foreign Affairs, which made the department completely unnecessary. The correspondence of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the authorities of Central Lithuania reveals that the relations between the two entities were not diplomatic. Poland did not recognize the statehood of Central Lithuania but rather acknowledged the fact that it is abroad. At the same time, Central Lithuania was dependent upon Poland, e.g. for food supplies. Central Lithuania can be seen as shaping stage Polish of east border after ending of war with Soviet Russia based on totalitarian ideology. That is an interesting example of Poland instrumentalizing international in its critical moment. However, such an approach to international law is a two-edged sword.

Technology and Territorial Change in Conflict Settings: Migration Control in the Aegean Sea

How does territorial change occur in conflict settings without a radical transformation of state interests and international norms? Territorial change is understood here as the unfolding of nonconflictual territorial visions, actions, and interactions in the absence of sovereignty transfer and/or transformation of the existing status of a disputed territory. This article addresses the question of territorial change in conflict settings by examining Turkey's coastal radar technology as an evolving border security infrastructure in the Aegean Sea. Entailing remotely controlled unmanned stations, mobile vehicles, and drones, Turkey's radar technology generates territorial change. Rather than merely enabling or constraining territorial engagement, technology actively produces territory by transforming it into a nonconflictual state. The altering of territory is achieved by the realignment of security conditioned by and functionally dependent on technology. Radar technology mediates Aegean security in ways that are different from its conventional external-oriented framework targeting another sovereign state. Yet, far from moving away from militarization, radar technology produces irregular migration as a new referent of militarized border security, while simultaneously bringing civilian actors to the fore. Territorial change materializes as technology alters the directionality of territorial vision, transforms “seeing” into “visualization,” and makes possible new types of sovereign violence.

Territorial Politics and Devolution in Scotland

This chapter addresses territorial politics and the introduction of devolution in Scotland. It discusses the validity of the proposition that, even in Scotland, resources were weak relative to reformers' aspirations. Throughout, the chapter addresses the movement for territorial change in Scotland and explores the proposition that in the context of power politics and resource deficiencies, it adopted constrained aims and incorporated an instrumentalist approach to achieve them. Equally, the chapter considers how the British Labour leadership politically managed the emergence of devolution proposals, and explores the idea that in the context of similar relative resource deficiencies, it adopted a code focused on achieving indirect central control. Finally, the chapter considers the policy process by which devolution proposals were created, both in opposition and in government, and the extent to which it contributed to their perceived effectiveness and legitimacy, and whether Scottish devolution overall could be considered to be a successful reform. To address these issues and theoretical questions, the chapter develops chronologically. Section one focuses on territorial politics and the political debate on the constitutional question in Scotland and at the UK centre in the 1980s. Section two addresses the preparation of devolution policy in Scotland during the 1990s and the significance of the referendum on Scottish devolution held in September 1997. Finally, section three considers the Blair government's preparation of devolution policy 1997–8, the Scotland Act 1998 and plans for its implementation.

Re-branding Colombia through Urban Transformation and Rural Regional Marketing

Colombia is now projecting a new, positive image to the world after over­coming a past characterised by politically inspired guerrilla warfare and violent conflict with narco-trafficking cartels which had ravaged the country for decades. Even before the country’s transformation, other intermediate place institutions – cities and regions – had already taken significant steps towards territorial change and marketing. This paper outlines the processes involved in urban and social transformation in the city of Medellín and in the marketing of the coffee region, as illustrative cases of city re-brand­ing and regional branding, respectively.

19. Succession to rights and duties

The significant number of recent state successions has resulted in an attempted re-engagement with the law of state succession in a different historical and political context, based on the accumulation of state practice over the past two decades. This chapter discusses the forms of territorial change, state succession and municipal legal relations, succession to treaties, succession to responsibility, and membership of international organizations.