Costs of International Recognition: Palestine's and Kosovo's Struggle with Negotiated Statehood

There is a wide consensus in literature that universal recognition comes with many benefits for the recognised state entities. The article aims to revisit the benefits of recognition by focusing on its costs. It does so by adopting an analytical lens that views state contenders' international environment as one of 'negotiated statehood'. The article shows how emerging state contenders must navigate this onerous environment to achieve universal recognition of their self-determination claims. The basic argument the article attempts to advance is that while acknowledging many of its benefits, recognition by members of international society does, or can, come with a price tag for emerging state contenders' empirical statehood. The argument is built by identifying and analysing the recognition-seeking practices of Palestine and Kosovo in their quest for recognition of their self-determination claims. The discussion in the article draws some implications for future considerations of the notions of self-determination and state recognition.