When rushing to recognise a Palestinian state, remember Yugoslavia

This week the UK government appeared to walk away from more than 200 years of its own policy with barely a backward glance.

- Bernard Gray

Indeed, to listen to ministers, it’s as though there had never been any consistent approach to the recognition of other countries, still less one that has applied for centuries.

But walk away it did. Whether this apparently casual disregard for the wisdom of the past is a good idea remains to be seen.

For almost all the history of the modern United Kingdom, the policy on recognition of other states has not been driven by morals or desires, but by practicality. Britain has been unwilling to recognise countries unless they are thought to be stable. The criteria for this judgment have broadly been that the state in question should have a defined area, a permanent population and a government capable of maintaining its borders.

There was international acceptance of this, codified in the Montevideo Convention of 1933. To understand why it was considered important to focus on a stable and secure state, look at what happens when it goes wrong. The most recent terrible example of this happened during the breakup of Yugoslavia.