Statehood and its International Legal Significance

INTRODUCTION. The modern system of international relations features an incredible complexity of its processes and events. Thus, in different countries there is a transformation of the existing state-legal forms as well as crises of government institutions. New types of states are appearingon the political map of the world while the established forms of international cooperationare changing. Nevertheless, states are still the main participants of international communication. MATHERIALS AND METHODS. Therefore, to perform an in-depth analysis of the modern international system of international relations as a whole and the position of individual states in it with quantitative indicators, one needs to create research tools that allow to make a qualitative assessment. We consider the category of “statehood” to be one of the main categories able to most fully assess the qualitative position of certain states in the world system and analyze various external manifestations of their essential and most significant characteristics. This article is devoted to a theoretical analysis of the category of “statehood” as a concept through which the unchanging essence of the state as a political unity and as a participant of international communication as well as the description of the forms of its external representation in international relations. RESEARCH RESULTS. Statehood appears as a comprehensive characteristic of the state organization of society and the degree of development of its intangible culture, which is externally distributed in various methods and forms of the political and legal structure of this society and the basis for the historical continuity of its development. Statehood is not identical to the concept of the state, as it is a qualitative characteristic of a state-organized society. Statehood is a reflection of the internal organizing essence of the state. The carrier of statehood is the people. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The main conclusions of the conducted research are as follows. First, the main forms of external realization of statehood in international law are the authority of the state and its national state tradition. The authority of the state is connected with the concept of international legality and is based on the constant and conscious adherence of the state to the general principles and principles of international law. National state tradition characterizes the state as a participant in international legal relations, possessing its own established state culture. Secondly, the modern system of international relations appears as a system of relations of authority of states, behind which there are all their diverse and multifaceted statuses and characteristics.