The April 16 communiqué issued by the GAFCON/FCA Primates' Council declared the Anglican Church in North America as genuinely Anglican and recommends that Anglican Provinces affirm full communion with the ACNA.

What does this mean? Four months earlier, the Primates welcomed 'the news of the North American Anglican Province in formation'. They fully supported 'this development with our prayer and blessing, since it demonstrates the determination of these faithful Christians to remain authentic Anglicans'.

How is a new province ‘recognised’ in the Anglican Communion? And, what is the Anglican Communion?

Global expansion of English mercantile and military (and in the case of Australia, penal) interests led to the establishment of overseas Anglican congregations. Until the 1800s these Anglican congregations were loosely under the oversight of the Bishop of London and then, by the mid-1800s, they looked more to the Archbishop of Canterbury for symbolic leadership. Issues of discipline and doctrine sparked the first Lambeth Conference in 1867 which has subsequently met at 10-year intervals.

In much more recent times, the Anglican Consultative Council (1971) and the Primates' Meeting (1978) have come into being.

The Virginia Report (1997) strove to bring some sense of coherence to the notion of Anglican identity and explored the relationship between the four so called Instruments of Communion (Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth Conferences, ACC and the Primates). Virginia failed to convince readers, that the Anglican Communion was much more than invitations by one Instrument of Communion to meetings of the other three Instruments of Communion. Structure rather than belief was the touchstone.

The Guardian (9 August 2003) reported the distinguished historian, Patrick Collinson, saying: “The media regularly describe archbishop Rowan Williams as 'head' of the Church of England, and even of something called the Anglican communion. He is not, of course. The only 'head' of the church is Christ, and the church of England has no earthly head but a supreme governor - the Queen. As for the Anglican communion, institutionally it exists only in the shape of the Lambeth conference, which meets every 10 years.”

In essence, the Anglican Communion is a fellowship of churches with a common background, who representatively and periodically meet together to discuss matters of mutual interest.

Can we expect to hear from the Instruments of Communion? The next Lambeth is a long way off (2018) and the last Primates' communiqué (Alexandria, February 2009) hints at deep and meaningful conversations and promises made of 'more talking and listening'. That leaves the ACC meeting next month in Jamaica and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Does international law offer insights on the process of recognition? Since the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) new nation states have come and gone on the world stage. One view requires a formal act of recognition as indispensable in establishing the international legal personality of a new state and the competence of its government. Another view is that a state exists as a subject of international law as soon as it exists as a fact. That is as soon as the new state fulfils the conditions of statehood as laid down by international law. But what are the essential ingredients of statehood?  Article 1, of the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States 1933, indicates that a state is characterised by: a permanent population; a defined territory; effective government; and capacity to enter into foreign relations.
The GAFCON/FCA Primates' Council and the Province of Nigeria have declared formal recognition and the Montevideo Convention characteristics have been satisfied in full measure.

In international politics, recognition or non-recognition of states can have as much to do with the real politik of the situation as it does with satisfying legal principles. The real politik of the Anglican Communion is GAFCON and the Global South. It is time that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council recognised this.