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Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]

Governments

Siegfried Magiera

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law [MPIL]

Module:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law [MPEPIL]
Article last updated:
September 2007

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 22 January 2025

Subject(s):
Heads of state and other senior officials — Act of state — Rule of law — Sovereignty — Unilateral acts — Recognition of governments — Separation of powers

Published under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law under the direction of Professor Anne Peters (2021–) and Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum (2004–2020). 

1 Government, in addition to population and territory, is one of the essential elements which qualify a State as a subject of international law (subjects of international law). It is the formative element, the organizational machinery which enables the State to enter into international relations and thus exercise its rights and fulfil its duties (States, Fundamental Rights and Duties).2 The scope of government varies with the organizational structure of the individual State. In its broadest sense it comprises all State organs regardless of their...
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