Theories Of State Succession

State succession is when one state ceases to exist or loses control over a part its territory and another state comes into existence or assumes control lost by the first state. Vienna Convention I and II define succession as "the replacement of one State by another in the responsibility for the international relations of a territory." One of the key questions that is to be answered here is who decides whether State succession has taken place or not. The international community can influence this determination. Third States cannot impose their view in cases of State succession.

There are two approaches through which a state succession can take place namely territorial approach and personal approach. Succession occurs when there is a change

The predecessor state is the original, pre-succession entity, for example the Yugoslavia or USSR prior to their respective dissolutions. The continuator state is the state that remains and continues after one or more sub-state entities break away from the predecessor state. Continuator state should continue the international legal personality of the predecessor state and may be required or entitled to continue the international organization membership and treaty obligations of the predecessor state. The successor state is the new state that has either replaced or broken away from the predecessor state. It should be noted that in the case of a pure state dissolution (for example as in the case of Yugoslavia), the predecessor state disintegrates into at least two successor states and that none of these states are considered to have become the continuator

According to Article 40 , when part of a territory of a state separates from that state and forms a new state, the state debt of the predecessor state passes to the successor state in an “equitable proportion, taking into account, in particular, the property, rights and interests which pass to the successor state in relation to that State debt”. Public debt can be divided into three kinds: national debt, territorial debt, and local debt. Debt used by the state to undertake projects in a specific region is known as Territorial debt. For e.g. debt contracted for large public infrastructure projects. Debt that is collected by the national government in the general interest of the state is called as National debt. For e.g. debt contracted to pay for foreign exchange deficit. And local debt is form of territorial debt contracted by local government