Analyzing the United States’ recognition of Kosovo in 2008, this essay presents a framework to guide the successful use of a president’s constitutional powers of sovereign recognition, particularly in the absence of international consensus. It then applies these “Kosovo conditions” to the contemporary case of Somaliland to illustrate the case for US unilateral recognition of the most vibrant democracy on the Horn of Africa.
The Kosovo Conditions and the Case for American Unilateral Recognition of Somaliland by Hoover Institution