Revision 229593 of "Country" on pamwiki

{{otheruses}}
In [[political geography]] and [[international politics]] a '''country''' is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of [[state]] or [[nation]]. In common usage, it is used casually in the sense of both "nation" (a cultural entity; see [[#Nation|below]]) and "state" (a political entity; see [[#State|below]]). Definitions may vary. It is sometimes used to refer to both states and some other political entities.<ref>http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/aia1901230/s22.html, http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/disp.pl/au/cases/cth/federal%5fct/1997/912.html, http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0941104X1.pdf http://www.economist.com/theworldin/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3372495&d=2005</ref>, while in some occasions it refers only to ''state''.<ref>[http://geography.about.com/cs/politicalgeog/a/statenation.htm About.com:"Geography: Country, State, and Nation".]</ref> It is not uncommon for general information or statistical publications to adopt the wider definition for purposes such as illustration and comparison.<ref name=List>[http://www.countryreports.org/country.aspx?countryid=96&countryName=countryid=96&countryName=Greenland countryreports.org], [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2078rank.html cia.gov], [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=46682 guinnessworldrecords.com], [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=49295 guinnessworldrecords.com]</ref>

There are dozens of non-[[Sovereignty|sovereign]] territories which constitute geographical countries, but are not sovereign states. Several states have [[overseas]] dependencies, with territory and citizenry separate from their own. They are sometimes listed together with states on lists of countries.<ref name=List/>

== Types ==
=== State ===
{{main|State}}
A ''state'' is an [[Independence|independent]] territory with a [[government]], a population, and [[sovereignty]] over these. The entire [[landmass]] of the [[Earth]] (excluding [[Antarctica]]), along with [[territorial sea|coastal seas]] is considered to be divided among such countries. There are currently 193 states recognized by the [[United Nations]] — its 192 members and the [[Holy See|Vatican City]].

In addition to these, there are other non [[Sovereignty|sovereign]] territories which, under the philosophy of [[self-determination]], wish to be considered countries in this sense. Some of these have ''[[de facto]]'' control over their population and territory, such as [[Abkhazia]], but are not considered states as they are not recognised as having sovereignty. On the other hand, in some internationally-recognised states, there is no functioning central government or there are several de facto states and governments. These are internationally not considered to constitute separate states, but rather to exist on the territory of the internationally recognised state.

=== Nation ===
{{main|Nation}}
A nation is a 'set of people with a common identity who have formed a nation-state or usually aspire to do so' (Viotti and Kauppi, [[2001]]). In this sense of country, the reference is more likely to be to a group that supposedly shares a common [[ethnic]] origin, [[language]], religion, or history (real or illusory).
 
The term has become synonymous with 'country' where nations without sovereignty (that is, nations that are not states) have aimed to identify themselves on the same terms as sovereign states. Others, including [[nationalist]]s, may consider their single nation (or country) to be divided between different states.

=== Constituent countries ===
{{main|Constituent Country}}

Four of the constituent parts of the [[United Kingdom]], which itself may be considered a country in the sense of this article, are called first order administrative areas and sometimes referred to countries in their own right: [[England]], [[Northern Ireland]], [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] (see [[constituent countries|constituent countries of the United Kingdom]]).

== Nation, country and state: a comparison ==
The casual use of 'country', 'state' and 'nation' as [[synonym]]s leads to confusion. Confounding this is the often confused official use: for example, the United Nations is actually a body made of 'states'; and the countries constituting the United Kingdom are sometimes called the [[home nations]].

The United Kingdom is an internationally recognised [[Sovereignty|sovereign]] [[state]], which is also referred to as a country and whose inhabitants have British [[nationality]]. The terminology can be further complicated by the use of the word ''state'' to mean a non-sovereign sub-entity of a sovereign state, as is done in the [[United States|United States of America]] (many of which, however, maintain that they are sovereign and independent states <ref>e.g. [http://www.mass.gov/legis/const.htm Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts]</ref>) and [[Australia]]. In most English-speaking countries when the terms ''state'', ''nation'' and ''country'' are used internally, they are understood by the context in which they are used and are not controversial. However, when these terms are used to describe the statehood aspirations of a people who do not currently live in the internationally recognised [[Independence|independent]] State they would like to dominate, these terms can be controversial and open to misunderstanding.

In reality, there is often a rough correspondence between both senses of country - this is the concept of the [[nation-state]]. It is one that many [[government]]s have attempted to encourage, in order to provide legitimacy to their control over a territory. However, because of historical and modern migration, ethnically homogeneous communities are rare or non-existent - [[Iceland]] and [[Japan]] being the most commonly quoted exceptions (and even this ignores minority aboriginal groups, such as the [[Ainu]] and [[Ryūkyūans]], in the case of Japan.)

== See also ==
* [[Nation-state]] for the history of the development of the modern nation states
* [[List of countries]]
* [[Lists by country]]
* [[List of sovereign states]]
* [[List of international rankings]]
* [[Constituent Countries]]
* [[State]]
* [[Dependent area]]
* [[List of dependent territories]]
* [[List of subnational entities]]
* [[ISO 3166-1]], list of countries and corresponding international standard codes
* [[Country calling codes]], list of telephone prefixes
* [[List of country name etymologies]]
* [[List of enclaves and exclaves]]
* [[Territory (country subdivision)|Territory]]
* [[Border]]
* [[List of Lists|List of Populations]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

* Anderson, Benedict; 'Imagined Communities: Reflections On the origin and Spread of Nationalism'; London, Verso; 1991
* Viotti, Paul R. and Kauppi, Mark V.; 'International Relations and World Politics - Security, Economy, Identity'; Second Edition; New Jersey, Prentice Hall; 2001

== External links ==
* [http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/countries/atlas_index.html Geography Site Country Profiles - Based on the ''CIA World Factbook'']
* [http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/countries/howmany.html How many countries are there?]
* [http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/countries/demonyms.html Demonyms - What do you call people from different countries?]
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ Library of Congress - Country Studies]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/country_profiles/default.stm BBC Country Profiles]
* [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html The CIA World Factbook]
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/ The US Department of State - Background Notes] Facts and informations on countries, dependencies and areas of special sovereignty around the world 
* [http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/ Lonely Planet] Clickable maps and travel informations & guidelines on the world's countries
* [http://www.nationsonline.org/ Nations Online]
* [http://www.nationmaster.com/ Nationmaster.com] Allows sorting countries on all kinds of statistics
* [http://www.populationdata.net PopulationData.net]
* [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/ United Nations statistics division]
* [http://www.unemed.net/edocs/file.jsp?method=getCountryCodeXMLFile United Nations eDocs Web Service] XML data list of countries.
* [http://www.unemed.net/edocs/ United Nations - UNeDocs Code List Web Service]
* [http://www.turkrocker.com List Web Service]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1202954241035719808 Google Video: Animaniacs, Countries of the World] – Song listing all the countries as of 1996
* [http://www.madore.org/~david/misc/countries.html How many countries are there in the world?] an article by David Madore on this unanswerable question
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[[Category:Countries| ]]
[[Category:Human geography]]

[[af:Land]]
[[an:País]]
[[ar:بلد]]
[[ay:Jach'a marka]]
[[az:Ölkə]]
[[be:Краіна]]
[[be-x-old:Краіна]]
[[bn:দেশ]]
[[br:Bro]]
[[bs:Zemlja (država)]]
[[ca:País]]
[[cdo:Guók-gă]]
[[ceb:Nasod]]
[[ckb:وڵات]]
[[cy:Gwlad]]
[[el:Χώρα]]
[[en:Country]]
[[eo:Lando]]
[[es:País]]
[[et:Maa (piirkond)]]
[[eu:Herrialde]]
[[ext:País]]
[[fa:کشور]]
[[fiu-vro:Maa]]
[[fr:Pays]]
[[gan:國家]]
[[gd:Dùthaich]]
[[gl:País]]
[[gu:દેશ]]
[[gv:Çheer]]
[[haw:Kaumokuʻāina]]
[[hif:Des]]
[[ht:Peyi]]
[[hu:Ország]]
[[hy:Երկիր (տարածք)]]
[[ia:Pais]]
[[ilo:Pagilian]]
[[io:Lando]]
[[it:Paese (area geografica)]]
[[ja:国土]]
[[jbo:gugde]]
[[ka:ქვეყანა]]
[[kk:Ел]]
[[ko:국토]]
[[la:Pagus]]
[[lad:Pais]]
[[ln:Esé]]
[[lt:Šalis]]
[[lv:Zeme (teritorija)]]
[[mhr:Эл]]
[[mr:देश]]
[[ms:Negara (geografi)]]
[[mwl:Paíç]]
[[my:တိုင်းပြည်]]
[[nds:Land]]
[[ne:देश]]
[[nl:Land (geografie)]]
[[pl:Pays]]
[[pnb:دیس]]
[[ps:هیواد]]
[[pt:País]]
[[rmy:Them]]
[[ro:Țară]]
[[ru:Страна]]
[[sah:Дойду]]
[[si:රට]]
[[simple:Country]]
[[sk:Krajina (kraj)]]
[[so:Wadan]]
[[sr:Земља (држава)]]
[[srn:Kondre]]
[[sv:Land]]
[[sw:Nchi]]
[[ta:நாடு]]
[[te:దేశం]]
[[th:ประเทศ]]
[[tl:Bansa]]
[[tr:Ülke]]
[[tt:Ил]]
[[uk:Країна]]
[[vi:Quốc gia]]
[[war:Nasod]]
[[yi:לאנד]]
[[yo:Orílẹ̀-èdè]]
[[zh:国家]]