Признание правительств на основании легитимности: сложившийся международный обычай?

This article examines the eventual normativity of the legitimacy-based recognition of governments. In particular, the author aims to establish whether an international custom of recognizing governments pursuant to their legitimacy crystallized in the first quarter of the 21st century. Although scholars mostly agree that such a custom has not yet been formed, they draw this conclusion without determining the factors allowing other States to perceive a government as legitimate. Pursuing this research aim, the author applies induction as a method of identification of customary international law. Within this approach, the practice of States and their attitude towards such practice were analyzed. To assess the current state of customary international law, indicators of legitimacy, and forms of State practice were determined, necessary for the choice of relevant empirical data. The forms of State practice considered included statements made on behalf of States, decisions of national courts, voting within international organisations, and establishment of diplomatic and consular relations. Particular attention was devoted to the reaction of the international community to the coup d’état in Honduras in 2009, to the formation of the Libyan National Transitional Council in 2011, to the constitutional crisis in Venezuela following the 2018 presidential election, and to the competition between the National Unity Government and the State Administration Council of Myanmar following the government overthrow in 2021. The analysis of two elements of international custom within the sphere of government recognition demonstrated that no custom of legitimacy-based recognition emerged in the first quarter of the 21st century: State practice, while extensive and representative, is not consistent, and in the majority of cases is not accompanied by opinio juris, which is present only in several regions of the world.