Kings Without Subjects: Normative Considerations for the Recognition of the Governments-in-Exile of Tibet, East Turkistan, and Taiwan

Abstract

This thesis aims to explain what normative obligations obtain when the government- in-exile representing an oppressed minority seeks international recognition. When recognition as a government is sought by an entity lacking authoritative control over a region and its residents, it is by no means clear how we ought to discern whether legitimacy should (or even can) be awarded or withheld, what form that "legitimacy" would take, and who or what actor is in a position to be able — or obligated — to do the awarding. This paper will review several politically and morally significant aspects of exile governments' claims to recognition, as well as the corresponding considerations for peer governments upon whom these claims are made. Particular attention will be paid to the exile governments whose claims concern Tibet, East Turkistan, and Taiwan. These three organizations' origins, assertions, rights, and obligations represent with considerable breadth the diversity of forms and aims which modern exile governments have adopted, each of which deserves more complete consideration than it has so far received in the literature on exile politics. Far from limiting the conclusions of this analysis to a Chinese context, I argue that these examples help to clarify morally relevant factors applicable to a much broader set of social and political circumstances, including those likely to define arguments around statehood and legitimacy in the near future. Ultimately, I conclude that the recognition of legitimate exile governments by peer states can amount to a moral obligation, not simply a sovereign prerogative. This contradicts established thinking about state sovereignty and recognition, and introduces certain problems which I attempt to address as best I can. I provide, after extensive review of the cases, several important factors for the consideration of peer states with regard to the recognition of the governments-in-exile of Tibet, East Turkistan, and Taiwan. Finally, I make recommendations as to future applicability of this normative theory.