Sovereign state facts for kids

A sovereign state is like a country with its own special powers. It has clear borders where people live, and its own government that makes laws. This government also talks to other sovereign states. The people living in a sovereign state must follow its laws. Most sovereign states are recognized by other countries. This means other sovereign states agree that it is a real, independent state. Being recognized makes it easier for a sovereign state to work with and make agreements (called treaties) with other countries. There are hundreds of recognized sovereign states in the world today. You can see a list of them at List of sovereign states.

What Makes a State?

It's not always easy to say exactly what makes a state. There isn't one strict rule. Usually, the main things that define a state are political, not legal. For example, during World War I, the Czechs and the Poles were seen as separate states, even though they didn't officially exist as countries yet.

One expert, L.C. Green, explained it this way: "It's up to any existing state to decide which other groups they want to treat as a state. They can do this even if the group doesn't have its own land or a clear government yet."

This means that an existing country can choose to recognize another group as a state. This recognition can be clear and direct, or it can be hinted at (implied). When a country recognizes another group, it often means they will treat that group as a state for things that happened in the past too. Sometimes, it also means the country wants to have diplomatic relations (like sending ambassadors) with the new group, but not always.

Understanding Sovereignty

The word "sovereignty" can be confusing. Lassa Oppenheim, a famous expert, said that no idea is more debated than sovereignty. From the time the idea of sovereignty first appeared in political science until now, there has never been one meaning everyone agrees on. Justice Evatt from Australia even said that "sovereignty is not a fact or a law, but a question that doesn't even come up."

Even though the word "sovereignty" often includes all types of government, old and new, the modern idea of a "state" is linked to how governments worked in the 15th century. That's when the word "state" started to mean what it does today. Because of this, "sovereignty" is often used only for modern political systems.

Country, Nation, and State: What's the Difference?

We often use the words "country," "nation," and "state" as if they mean the same thing. But there are actually important differences:

• A nation is a group of people who feel connected because they share customs, origins, or history. However, words like national and international are often used for things that are actually about a sovereign state, like a national capital or international law.
• A state is the government and other groups that have sovereignty (power) over a certain area of land and its population.

Because the meaning of these words has changed over time, and writers in the past used "state" in different ways, it's hard to give one exact definition. Mikhail Bakunin simply used "state" to mean any governing group. Other writers used "state" to mean any group that makes or enforces laws, like the police. Karl Marx said the state was a tool used by the ruling class of a country to stay in control. According to Max Weber, a state is the only group allowed to use violence (like police or military force) in a specific area.

How States Are Recognized

There are two main ideas about how a group becomes a state and is recognized by others:

Constitutive Theory: Being Recognized by Others

In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, only 39 sovereign states in Europe were officially recognized. Because of this, they decided that any new states in the future would need to be recognized by other existing states. In practice, this usually meant being recognized by one or more of the most powerful countries.

This idea, called the constitutive theory, was developed in the 1800s. It explains what is and isn't a state. With this theory, a new group only has to follow international law if other sovereign governments recognize it. This meant that new states couldn't immediately join the international community or be bound by international law. So, recognized nations didn't have to follow international law when dealing with them.

In 1912, an expert explained the constitutive theory like this: "International Law doesn't say that a State doesn't exist until it's recognized. But it doesn't pay attention to it before it's recognized. Only through recognition does a State become an International Person and a subject of International Law."

One big problem with this theory is the confusion that happens when some states recognize a new group, but others don't. Hersch Lauterpacht, a supporter of this theory, suggested that it's a state's duty to grant recognition. However, a state can use any rules it wants when deciding whether to recognize another group.

Declarative Theory: Meeting the Requirements

The Montevideo Convention is often used to describe what makes a state. This agreement was signed on December 26, 1933, by many countries in the Americas, including the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. However, it never received full international agreement from all countries.

The Montevideo Convention lists four things a group "should" have to become a state:

• A population that lives there.
• A specific area of land.
• A government.
• The ability to talk to and make agreements with other states.

According to this theory, a state exists if it meets these conditions, whether or not other states recognize it. Other states decide if a group meets these conditions when they choose whether to treat that group as a state. Usually, new states are officially recognized by at least a few other states.

De Facto and De Jure States

Most sovereign states are both de jure and de facto. This means they exist both in law (officially) and in real life (they control their land).

However, sometimes states are only de jure states. This means that other states see a group as the true government of a place, even if that group doesn't actually control the land. For example, many European states had governments-in-exile during the Second World War. These governments still had relations with the Allies, even though their countries were under Nazi occupation.

An example today is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. It is an observer at the United Nations and has diplomatic relations with 104 states. It doesn't have its own land, only embassies and consulates in other countries.

Other groups might control a place and act like a state, but are not recognized by other states. These are de facto states only. Many people agree that Somaliland is an example of such a state.

Images for kids

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  A robot representing a child's perspective.

See also

In Spanish: Estado soberano para niños