Country

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For other uses, see Country (disambiguation).

In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity. Frequently, a sovereign territory, the term is most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.

In common usage, the term is used casually in the sense of both "nation" and "state". Definitions may vary. It is sometimes used to refer to both states and some other political entities.[1] while in some occasions it refers only to state.[2] It is not uncommon for general information or statistical publications to adopt the wider definition for purposes such as illustration and comparison.[3]

There are non-sovereign territories (subnational entities, another form of political division or administrative division within a larger nation-state) which constitute cohesive geographical entities, some of which are former countries, but which are not sovereign states. Some are designated as countries, others are not. The degree of autonomy and local government varies widely. Some are possessions of such states — as several states have overseas dependencies, with territory and citizenry separate from their own. Such dependencies are sometimes listed together with states on lists of countries.[3]

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[edit] References

  1. ^ 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 http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/84411.pdf
  2. ^ About.com:"Geography: Country, State, and Nation".
  3. ^ a b countryreports.org, cia.gov, guinnessworldrecords.com, guinnessworldrecords.com [1] [2] http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/chapters/pdf/index2007_RegionA_Asia-Pacific.pdf
  • 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

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