Would the world be better off with relatively more countries or relatively fewer countries? Are the countries we see across the world meeting the needs of the world and their citizens? Should we celebrate or be concerned about the formation of new countries?
Most people will likely go along with the argument that creating new countries gives us the power to experiment and try new things. Traditional countries seem stagnant, mired in problems, with aging systems that don’t work well in modern society.
But on the other hand, stability can be a positive thing, and they can certainly evolve without starting completely from scratch.
What Exactly is a Country?
It’s generally accepted that a “country” must have:
- Defined boundaries
- A system of governance
- A permanent population
I would add two more to the list:
- An agreed-upon medium of exchange or commerce
- The ability to legitimately engage with other nations
With that in mind, let’s explore some of the ways countries may evolve in the future.
Size Matters – The Private Sector Parallel
Interestingly we have the same “more vs. fewer” debate with regard to publicly held companies. We seem to go through alternating periods of corporate conglomerations and spinoffs, celebrating the efficiencies gained in the first model and the greater likelihood of innovation, specialization, and profitability with the second.
The parallels don’t stop there. Large conglomerates are unlikely to be snapped up by a competitor. But smaller companies might be at the mercy of a hostile takeover. The same is arguably true for countries.
On the individual level, a worker’s position might be safer and more secure in a large corporation compared to a smaller spin-off company or a startup. People living in some of the former Soviet Republics can certainly relate to this comparison.
Yet, land on earth is very limited. Is it even reasonable to consider the formation of new countries?
Where do New Countries Come From?
Since nearly all the walkable space on Earth has been claimed as part of a country (with some possible exceptions described below), country formation as far as landmass for the most part is a zero-sum game. There are no new places to plant a flag. That will ultimately happen on planets other than Earth, though for now the UN Moon Agreement prohibits national colonization there.
But here on Earth, new countries are either re-invented or rebranded from established lands, carved out from established countries, or less commonly, the result of a merger of established countries.
Re-Branded Countries
Not to be confused with the formation of “new countries,” we’ll continue to see nations filing some informational paperwork with the United Nations and changing their names. This might be a tweak that’s significant just to them, such as adding the phrase “Republic of…” or changing the name altogether.
Many times, these changes aren’t due to newly derived independence or a substantially re-formed government; they’re from what I would call “re-branding,” driven by political change, ethnic pride, or a new national identity that seeks to separate itself from the vestiges of a former outside, often Anglo, dominance.
Micronations
When it comes to the formation of new countries on new lands, I’ve written and lectured in the past about micronations, formed on manmade islands, or natural ones that are too small for the host nation to have much interest in.
In theory, these lands can be transformed into a new country, meeting many if not all of the five characteristics. In some cases, however, these are more akin to a tourism gimmick like this one, or an effort to foster a utopian society for a handful of true believers. The Principality of New Utopia, a monarchy established on an island off the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, is perhaps the most well-known in this category.
Generally, though, micronations aren’t large enough to be socio-economic players on the world stage, which is the 5th criterion, and the residents and their leaders like it like that. Increasingly, though, there’s a place for these micronations in the metaverse as we will discuss below.