The ability of a territory to hold onto its independent existence in the face of obvious threats to that existence, and to eventually get the rest of the international community to recognize it as such, remains the last means through which territory can acquire sovereignty. This scenario obtains only in a period of unprecedented and garrulous imperialist predilections by all or most of the prevalent major powers late 19th century Europe. Or a situation where a small and weak state is sandwiched between large and strong neighbours – the Gambia in Africa, and Switzerland (SWISS Cantons) in
In Africa , Ethiopia and Liberia were able not only to hold onto their territories’ independence in the 19th century despite the spreading miasma of the colonial enterprise, but were also able to get the international community to recognize their sovereign status. Thus, by the time Italy invaded, and purported to annex Abyssinia (Ethiopia) as a colonial possession in 1935, it was already recognized as an independent sovereign nation- hence the opprobrium that attended the Italian misadventure.
Related Posts: HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATION (H.I.R), POLITICAL SCIENCE
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