State

:This article discusses states as sovereign political entities. For other meanings, see state (disambiguation).

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A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. Recognition of the state's claim to independence by other states, enabling it to enter into international agreements, is often important to the establishment of its statehood, although some theories do not make this a requirement - for instance, the Montevideo Convention. The "state" can also be defined in terms of domestic conditions, specifically the monopolization of the legitimate use of force within a country.

Related Topics:
Political - Territory - Government - Sovereignty - Montevideo Convention - Monopolization of the legitimate use of force

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The word "state" in contemporary parlance often means the "Westphalian state", in reference to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. In this sense, the modern state is an entity that enjoys extensive autonomy in its domestic economic and social policy, largely free from interference from other states and powers. A number of modern commentators have claimed the decline of the Westphalian state as the principal actor of the international system, pointing to economic, cultural, political, and technological changes in the world, such as globalization and the emergence of regional and supernational groupings such as the European Union.

Related Topics:
Peace of Westphalia - 1648 - International system - Globalization - European Union

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The term is also used to describe subnational territorial divisions within a federal system, such as the fifty U.S. states. See state (law) and state (non-sovereign).

Related Topics:
Subnational - State (law) - State (non-sovereign)

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The terms country, nation, state and land are casually used as synonyms, but in a more strict usage they are distinguished:

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• country is the geographical area
• nation designates a people, however national and international both confusingly refer as well to matters pertaining to what are strictly states, as in national capital, international law
• state is about government, and an entity in international law
• land may be used for "a country and its people" but also thought of as country belonging to a nation or a monarch

Currently, the entire land surface of the Earth is divided among the territories of the roughly two hundred states now existing, with the special case of Antarctica and a variety of disputed territories.

Related Topics:
Earth - Special case - Antarctica - Disputed territories

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State: Etymology ►