ABSTRACT
Chapter One reviews existing approaches to locating de facto states in the international system in order to present a refined definition of the de facto state and to portray the social system that de facto states inhabit. The social and political positioning of de facto states is established, contextualising their position vis-à-vis the international system, demonstrating the problem of viewing de facto states through a single lens of either the international system or international society: both are required to accurately discern de facto states and de jure states. The socialisation of de facto states in the international system is accounted for by utilising an identity complex grounded in the work of Alexander Wendt. Finally, this chapter concludes that, due to the normative and political reasons for which de facto states are excluded from international society, the concept of legitimacy is the most appropriate platform from which to begin theorising the relationship between de facto states and the international society that they are excluded from.
