The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States was signed in Uruguay in 1933.

Signed by 19 countries of North, South and Central America, the Convention proclaimed in ‘Article 1’ the qualifications required to posses the title of ‘nation-state’.

The magnitude of the current immigration debate, the receding relevance of borders in the era of globalisation, and the inability of national governments to deal with the ever-complex security threats of the 21st century, all call into question the contemporary relevance of these criteria.

If we were to have this conference now, what would the criteria for the modern-nation state actually be? More importantly, if we were starting from scratch, would the idea of the nation-state still be deemed efficient, or indeed necessary?

For a all 16 Articles of the Montevideo Criteria follow the link below:

https://www.ilsa.org/jessup/jessup15/Montevideo%20Convention.pdf