Sovereign state
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"One institution towers over the struggle between the competing claims of universalism and propinquity: the nation state."--The Plundered Planet (2010) by Paul Collier |
Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.
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A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory.
International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory (see territorial disputes), one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states.
It is also normally understood that a sovereign state is independent. According to the declarative theory of statehood, a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states.
Unrecognised states will often find it difficult to exercise full treaty-making powers or engage in diplomatic relations with other sovereign states.
See also
- Country
- Failed state
- Federal state
- International relations
- List of national and state libraries
- List of national museums
- Nation
- National memory
- Nation-building
- Nation state
- State (administrative division)
- State (polity), the state in sociology and political science
- Status of the Holy See in international law
- Stateless nation
- Statelessness
- Violent non-state actor
