Countries

A country is a separate geographical or political body. It might be a sovereign state or a component of a larger state, a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, a physical territory with a government, or a geographical region including formerly independent or differently linked peoples with separate political features. It does not have inherent sovereignty.

Russia is the largest country in the world while the Vatican City is the smallest. The Pitcairn Islands have the smallest population, while China has the largest.

Symbols of a country include cultural, religious, or political symbols of the country’s many ethnicities or races. Flags, coats of arms, and seals all cover a range of symbols. some examples of symbols of a country include:

-Flags

-National emblems or coats of arms

-Stamps or seals

-National mottos

-Colours of the country

-National songs

Sovereign State

A sovereign state can be referred to as a “country.” Because a number of nations have contested sovereignty status, therefore there is no general agreement on the number of “countries” in the globe. According to one application of the declarative and constitutive theories of statehood, there are 206 sovereign nations, 193 of which are UN members, two of which have UNGA observer status (the Holy See and Palestine), and 11 others who are neither UN members nor UNGA observers.

Non-sovereign countries have varying degrees of autonomy. Some are sovereign states’ holdings, with citizens who are sometimes similar to their own and sometimes not. They are included alongside sovereign governments on country lists, and many, like the British Virgin Islands and Hong Kong, are considered as independent “countries of origin” in international trade.

The Danish Realm, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, France, the Realm of New Zealand, and the United Kingdom are examples of nations that are made up of smaller polities that are considered countries.

State, nation, and country are all phrases used to define groupings of people that have a similar location and a lot in common. However, although states and sovereign states are political entities, nations and countries are not.

A sovereign state possesses the following characteristics:

-A region or space with internationally recognised borders

-Those who reside there on a regular basis

-International and domestic trade regulations

-The power to issue internationally recognised legal tender

-A globally recognised system that provides public services and enforces law, as well as the authority to negotiate treaties, declare war, and act on behalf of its people.

-Sovereignty, which means that no other country should be able to control the country’s territory.

Non-Sovereign Territories

Many entities have geographical and cultural importance as well as many of the characteristics of a sovereign state, yet they are not sovereign nations in their own right. Territories, non-sovereign governments, and countries are among them.

Some examples are:

-Hong Kong, China

-Bermuda

-Greenland

-Puerto Rico (PR)

-Non-sovereign areas of the United Kingdom include Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and England.

Nations

Nations are linguistically, institutionally, religiously, and/or historically homogenous groups of people. Some countries are sovereign, but the majority are not.

The following countries have territory but are not sovereign states:

-The United States Indian Nations

-Bosnia (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

-Catalan Republic (in northern Spain)

-Quebec

-Corsica

-Sicily

-Tibet

It can be claimed that certain nations control no area at all, in addition to non-sovereign states. Sindhi, Yoruba, Rohingya, and Igbo peoples, for example, share history, customs, and languages but no territory. Some countries, like Canada and Belgium, have two nations.

Nation-States

A nation-state is defined as a group of people who have their own sovereign state. Nation-state populations have a common history, ethnicity, language and culture. Iceland and Japan are great examples of nation-states since the vast majority of its citizens have the same heritage and culture.

List of Sovereign States

• Afghanistan

• Albania

• Algeria

• Andorra

• Angola

• Antigua and Barbuda

• Argentina

• Armenia

• Australia

• Austria

• Azerbaijan

• Bahamas

• Bahrain

• Bangladesh

• Barbados

• Belarus

• Belgium

• Belize

• Benin

• Bhutan

• Bolivia

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Botswana

• Brazil

• Brunei

• Bulgaria

• Burkina Faso

• Burundi

• Cambodia

• Cameroon

• Canada

• Cape Verde

• Central African Republic

• Chad

• Chile

• China

• Colombia

• Comoros

• Congo

• Congo

• Costa Rica

• Croatia

• Cuba

• Cyprus

• Czech Republic

• Denmark

• Djibouti

• Dominica

• Dominican Republic

• East Timor

• Ecuador

• Egypt

• El Salvador

• Equatorial Guinea

• Eritrea

• Estonia

• Eswatini

• Ethiopia

• Fiji

• Finland

• France

• Gabon

• Gambia

• Georgia

• Germany

• Ghana

• Greece

• Grenada

• Guatemala

• Guinea

• Guinea-Bissau

• Guyana

• Haiti

• Honduras

• Hungary

• Iceland

• India

• Indonesia

• Iran

• Iraq

• Ireland

• Israel

• Italy

• Ivory Coast

• Jamaica

• Japan

• Jordan

• Kazakhstan

• Kenya

• Kiribati

• North Korea

• South Korea

• Kuwait

• Kyrgyzstan

• Laos

• Latvia

• Lebanon

• Lesotho

• Liberia

• Libya

• Liechtenstein

• Lithuania

• Luxembourg

• Madagascar

• Malawi

• Malaysia

• Maldives

• Mali

• Malta

• Marshall Islands

• Mauritania

• Mauritius

• Mexico

• Micronesia,

• Moldova

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

• Morocco

• Mozambique

• Myanmar

• Namibia

• Nauru

• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Zealand

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Nigeria

• North Macedonia

• Norway

• Oman

• Pakistan

• Palau

• Palestine

• Panama

• Papua New Guinea

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Philippines

• Poland

• Portugal

• Qatar

• Romania

• Russia

• Rwanda

• Saint Kitts and Nevis

• Saint Lucia

• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

• Samoa

• San Marino

• São Tomé and Príncipe

• Saudi Arabia

• Senegal

• Serbia

• Seychelles

• Sierra Leone

• Singapore

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Solomon Islands

• Somalia

• South Africa

• South Sudan

• Spain

• Sri Lanka

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tajikistan

• Tanzania

• Thailand

• Togo

• Tonga

• Trinidad and Tobago

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Tuvalu

• Uganda

• Ukraine

• United Arab Emirates

• United Kingdom

• United States

• Uruguay

• Uzbekistan

• Vanuatu

• Vatican City

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Yemen

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

Conclusion

At both the international and national levels, statehood is an abstract creation of law and politics. In contemporary international law, a state is a stable regulatory arrangement of a territorial political community that allows it to join the international community of States, together with all the other similarly organised communities. States are the fundamental elements of international society.  that society was entirely made up of States when it formed two or three centuries ago With the exception of few sui generis characters.  Today, with the rise of a wide range of international organisations, it is no longer possible to say that the international community is made up entirely of States, although they remain its most powerful component.