The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria

Using the cases of Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria, the author examines state-building as practiced by informal states. Exploring symbolic and economic dimensions of state-building projects and using insights from political sociology, she investigates how they function under circumstances of non-recognition.

DARIA ISACHENKO Research Fellow at the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Institute of Political Science, Germany. She holds a PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Institute of Social Sciences, where she was also a member of the Young Scholar Group 'Micropolitics of Armed Groups', funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

In a detailed study of the methods of statebuilding as practiced by informal states, Daria Isachenko focuses on Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria, which due to their unrecognized status occupy a politically ambiguous space within the international community, often labelled as de facto states or even weak states. This book investigates how they function under circumstances of non-recognition, using insights from political sociology to provide a conceptual framework capable of analysing the making and development of informal states. Tracing the historical trajectories of Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria towards unilateral declarations of independence, chapters explore the symbolic and economic dimensions of their statebuilding projects.Particular emphasis is placed on the effects of external support on the internal statebuilding process, challenging the assumption that these informal states are mere geopolitical pawns of their sponsors. The author instead argues that they are far from being isolated, but are active participants in international politics.

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