Criteria For Inclusion
The dominant customary international law standard of statehood is the declarative theory of statehood that defines the state as a person of international law if it "possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." Debate exists on the degree to which recognition should be included as a criterion of statehood. The declarative theory of statehood, an example of which can be found in the Montevideo Convention, argues that statehood is purely objective and recognition of a state by other states is irrelevant. On the other end of the spectrum, the constitutive theory of statehood defines a state as a person under international law only if it is recognized as sovereign by other states. For the purposes of this list, included are all states that either:
- (a) have declared independence and are often regarded as having control over a permanently populated territory
or
- (b) are recognized as a sovereign state by at least one other sovereign state
Note that in some cases there is a divergence of opinion over the interpretation of the first point, and whether an entity satisfies it is disputed.
On the basis of the above criteria, this list includes the following 206 entities:
- 203 states recognized by at least one UN member state
- Two states that control a permanently populated territory and are recognized only by non-UN member states: Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Transnistria
- One state that controls a permanently populated territory and is not recognized by any other state: Somaliland
Read more about this topic: List Of Sovereign States
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