Are you interested in pursuing research on de facto state patron-client relations? The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and the Department of Politics, University of York, are seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join the team of researchers on the project ‘Dynamics of de facto state patron-client relations (DeFacto)’. They are looking for a candidate with experience and ability to conduct empirical studies and field research.

One of the world’s oldest conflicts, a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has re-erupted with the heaviest clashes in years.

Plea to remember ‘birds do not know borders’ amid spat between Taiwan’s largest bird conservation group and UK-based BirdLife International.

Announcing the re-launch of the Kosovo recognition updates series! PolGeoNow will now once again be providing timely reports on when countries recognize—or un-recognize—the disputed Republic of Kosovo.

New design aims to avoid confusion with mainland, says government, though opposition criticises ‘ideological move’.

“Resign! Resign! Resign!” These were the words heard on the evening of Friday 28 August on the main square of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. The words were addressed to its President Anatoly Bibilov. His position suddenly seems more insecure than ever before. What happened to imperil the regime so severely?

Fifty years ago, this remote micronation declared independence in a story of princes and princesses, taxes and treason and wheat quotas and war.

International relations and sport have become increasingly intertwined, with sport and sports events being used for various diplomatic and political goals. Yet, membership of FIFA and the IOC is largely organised along lines of sovereign statehood. What about CONIFA, the alternative for contested territories? An academic analysis by Ramesh Ganohariti and Ernst Dijxhoorn.

On the 23rd of July, Abkhazians celebrated their National Flag Day. On this date in 1992, Abkhazia declared itself independent.

BIRN has discovered more evidence of Kosovo institutions lobbying for a land swap with Serbia: a Le Monde journalist states that Kosovo Ambassador to France Qendrim Gashi advocated for territory exchange, while an American academic has revealed that Hashim Thaci asked him to prepare a paper endorsing the plan.

Today, Somaliland celebrates Independence Day to mark the polity’s unilateral proclamation of independence from the Somali Democratic Republic in 1991. However, its status remains unrecognized the world over. Find out more about this unique place on our website.

On 12 May 2014, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics declared independence from Ukraine. In the photo book War in Ukraine, multimedia journalist Pierre Crom has documented the highly explosive situation in the Crimea and the Donbas region. With his pictures, he brings us closer to the people who got trapped in the chaos of war.

Almost all de facto states that survive for some time have a powerful ‘patron’ that provides security guarantees and economic support. Too often this has resulted in the de facto states simply being brushed off as hapless pawns in their patron’s power play.

Measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus have created an odd situation in a village straddling the Dutch-Belgian border where opposite sides of the road are in different countries. One store even had a ribbon down the middle of its premises, marking the border, with the Belgian section off-limits.

Extinguished Countries is the first guidebook series about countries that no longer exist. They don’t follow today’s borders but take us on a journey through time and space to lost kingdoms, republics and empires, looking for what unites us rather than divides us.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia closed their borders with Georgia after Georgia confirmed its first case of coronavirus infection. Abkhazia stated the Ingur border crossing will remain closed until 7 April. The closure of local checkpoints between South Ossetia and Georgia is indefinite.

Dozens of Greek and Turkish Cypriots protested against a government decision to temporarily close four checkpoints on the Green Line as part of measures to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus.

Exactly six years after multimedia journalist Pierre Crom witnessed the very beginning of the annexation of Crimea, Subjectio is launched: an experimental online storytelling project about methods used by superpowers to control and manipulate the representation of the truth.

What is Brexit? Is it a case of secession? Or should we think of it in other terms? In this video, James Ker-Lindsay (London School of Economics) explores how we can best define the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

Artist Sipa Labakhua travels the land of his birth, Abkhazia. His father was an idealistic politician who was forced by the war with Georgia to flee to Moscow. Now, his son has returned home and collects memories and reflections of a colourful community. A poetic road movie by director Ineke Smits.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) uncovered a plot to covertly finance unrecognized republics in eastern Ukraine through South Ossetia.

In the effort to elucidate and understand de facto states, the University of Tartu (Estonia) recently founded the De Facto State Research Unit. From Somaliland to Transnistria and everywhere in between, their goal is to uncover these hidden spots that may turn out unexpectedly influential in world politics.

We visited the Dutch radio show Bureau Buitenland to tell about our passion for stamps, frictional states and curious borders.

CONIFA, the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, just announced the teams that have qualified for the World Football Cup in North Macedonia, June 2020. Teams from places like Metabeleland, Kabylia, Panjab, Cascadia and the Chagos Islands are overlooked by FIFA and will get a chance to win their place on a global stage in this alternative tournament.

The South Pacific region of Bougainville voted overwhelmingly to become the world’s newest nation by gaining independence from Papua New Guinea. More than 98% of valid ballots favored independence.

With its overt campaign to reduce the number of countries that recognize Kosovo as an independent state, Serbia has provoked the wrath of its neighbour. The battle intensifies.

Sniper fire and clashes have become rare on the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In a year that has seen positive steps to mitigate the decades-old conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, this photo essay by Jorge Gutiérrez Lucena illustrates how some Armenian front-line villagers’ lives have slowly improved.

The World Football Cup 2020 for de facto states and minority peoples will be held in Skopje, North Macedonia. The tournament will consist of 16 teams; the qualification period ends in December 2019. The event will take place from 30 May-7 June 2020.

What happens when all the ice melts and Antarctica is colonized? Browse through the archive of the future: scenarios, interviews, diary entries—all sort of stories that take place in Antarctica after the year 2119. The literary website Project Antarctica was presented on November 21 in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam.

De Facto selected 1982, a documentary on the mechanisms of propaganda during the Falklands War. In 1982, when the Argentine military dictatorship invaded the Falkland Islands, the government left no stone unturned in using propaganda to convince the people of the righteousness of their mission.