ABSTRACT
Entities that have unilaterally declared independence, that possess most criteria of statehood and yet are internationally under-or unrecognized states pose numerous problems for scholars.1 The diversity of their situations makes them notoriously hard to classify and theorize.2 The phantom states under consideration here, according to the definition above include Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Somaliland, Kosovo,
Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh (NK), Transdniestria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.3
