ABSTRACT
The concluding chapter evaluates the findings from applying the conceptual framework to the case studies of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the Republic of Somaliland and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It considers the implications of the framework for normative standing and the clarity provided in the conceptualisation of the relationship between de facto states and international society. The chapter concludes that, while recognition confers a certain kind of identity, so too does non-recognition. De facto statehood is a role identity in itself. The insights from assessing the case studies’ normative standing are synthesised to demonstrate the explanatory utility in analysing de facto states’ recognition narratives through the lenses of legality, morality and constitutionality. Finally, the argument is put forward that the stasis in the relationship between de facto states and international society has formed primarily because de facto states are in effect seeking to evolve the constitution of international society itself.
