Types of States

• Nation-States (misnomer) • Multi-Nation States (aprx. 190)

– China, Spain, India, Russia, Mexico, Nigeria, Australia, Syria, Canada

• Non-State Nations (4000-5000)– Kurds, Basques, Tibetans, Navajo, Berbers

• Hence most states are NOT nation-states and MOST nations are non-state nations

Hence these are states….

…and these are nations/peoples

Kurdish Children

Basques running with the bulls in Pamplona, Pais Vasco

Berbers of Morocco

The world’s most famous Berber

Recognized States• 194 members of the United Nations• Newest member is South Sudan• Requirements to be a State

– Territory– Population– Government – Diplomatic Recognition

Divided States• Most divided states created in Cold War• North and South Korea• End of Cold War comes Reunification

– East and West Germany– North and South Vietnam– North and South Yemen

• Newest Divided State is the Sudan– This is a special exception of “secession”

Pre- and Post-1975 Vietnam

Non-Contiguous States• A state (excluding islands) whose territory

is not physically connected (contiguous)

Cabinda/Angola

Kaliningrad/Russia

Land-locked States• States whose territories have no physical

access to seas or oceans• These states are particularly vulnerable• Limited access to the outside world

Quasi-States

• States who posses almost all of the attributes of states (land, population, territory, recognition) BUT

• Are missing/lacking an attribute• Palestine, Vatican City, Taiwan,

Greenland• Former Quasi States: Andorra, San

Marino

Vatican City

Micro-States• States that are usually small both in terms

of geographic size AND population• States of less than 1 million people• Concentrated in 3 geographic locations:

– Caribbean and Pacific Oceans, Western Europe

Unrecognized States• De facto Independent Countries• Government, Control of Territory, People• Have little or no diplomatic recognition• Do not belong to the UN or other IGOs• Somaliland, Abkhazia, South Ossetia,

N. Cyprus, Nagorno-Karabakh, Trans-Dneister, Bougainville,

Contested States• Two armed groups who vie for control of

one country and its government• Usually a recognized government versus a

revolutionary movement• Ex: Assad versus the Free Syrian Army• Colombia, Nepal, Libya, Syria,

Philippines, Pakistan (NW Frontier) • Contested states often lead to….

Frenete Revolucionario Armado de Colombia (FARC)

Failed States• States where the central government has

disappeared or stopped working• Usually the result of unending civil wars• Somalia, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Zaire

Alert Warning Moderate Sustainable

Mandate States???• Proposed role of the UN for failed states• UN and “state building”• Temporary UN/International Intervention• Has never happened• Proposed as a way to get “failed” states

working again

IR and Other Types of States• First, Second, Third Worlds• Fourth World (Indigenous non-state nations)• Mao’s “Three Worlds”• More/Less Developed Countries • MDCs/LDCs

– Pejorative Labels (“you’re poor!)• Developed/Developing Countries• Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs)

– Asian Tigers/Celtic Tiger• Emerging Economies and the new “G20”

NICs usually share some common features, including:

• Increased social freedoms and civil rights• A switch from agricultural to industrial

economies, especially in the manufacturing sector.

• An increasingly open-market economy, allowing free trade with other nations in the world

• Large national corporations operating in several continents.

• Strong capital investment from foreign countries.• Political leadership in their area of influence.

First/Second/Third World’s

The “New” Newly Industrialized Countries?

What is the G20?

• The Group of Twenty (G20) is made up of 19 of the world's largest economies plus a representative from the European Union.

• Meetings are held once a year in the country of the then president of the group.

• The first meeting, or summit, took place in US capital Washington DC in November 2008. The idea was originally proposed by former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

• Finance ministers usually meet around the world although G20 leaders sometimes take part instead.

Members of the G20