Sovereign state

Member states of the United Nations (UN), as defined by the UN.
De facto map of control of the world, May 2019

Political entity represented by one centralized government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory.

- Sovereign state
Member states of the United Nations (UN), as defined by the UN.

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Member states of the United Nations (UN), as defined by the UN.

Centralized government

One in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments.

One in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments.

Member states of the United Nations (UN), as defined by the UN.

In a national context, centralization occurs in the transfer of power to a typically unitary sovereign nation state.

United Nations

Intergovernmental organization whose purpose is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.

Intergovernmental organization whose purpose is to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.

Members of the United Nations
1943 sketch by Franklin Roosevelt of the UN original three branches: The Four Policemen, an executive branch, and an international assembly of forty UN member states
The UN in 1945: founding members in light blue, protectorates and territories of the founding members in dark blue
Dag Hammarskjöld was a particularly active secretary-general from 1953 until his death in 1961.
Kofi Annan, secretary-general from 1997 to 2006
Flags of member nations at the United Nations Headquarters, seen in 2007
Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet general secretary, addressing the UN General Assembly in December 1988
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, demonstrates a vial with alleged Iraq chemical weapon probes to the UN Security Council on Iraq war hearings, 5 February 2003
Current secretary-general, António Guterres
The ICJ ruled that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 did not violate international law.
Under Sukarno, Indonesia became the first and only country to leave the United Nations.
A Nepalese soldier on a peacekeeping deployment providing security at a rice distribution site in Haiti during 2010
The UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus was established in 1974 following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1949
Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme reading the news that smallpox has been globally eradicated in 1980
In Jordan, UNHCR remains responsible for the Syrian refugees and the Zaatari refugee camp.
The 2001 Nobel Peace Prize to the UN—diploma in the lobby of the UN Headquarters in New York City
Marking of the UN's 70th anniversary – Budapest, 2015

At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; with the addition of South Sudan in 2011, membership is now 193, representing almost all of the world's sovereign states.

Singapore

Letter from William Farquhar to Sultan Muhammad Kanzul Alam, the 21st Sultan of Brunei, dated 28 November 1819. In the first line, Farquhar mentions that Sultan Hussein Shah and Temenggong Abdul Rahman allowed the British East India Company to establish a factory in Singapore on 6 February 1819.
1825 survey map. Singapore's free port trade was at Singapore River for 150 years. Fort Canning hill (centre) was home to its ancient and early colonial rulers.
British evacuation in 1945 after the Japanese surrender. Kallang Airport's control tower near the city has been conserved.
Singapore thrived as an entrepôt. In the 1960s, bumboats were used to transport cargoes and supplies between nearshore ships and Singapore River.
Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore
The Istana is the official residence and office of the President, as well as the working office of the Prime Minister.
The Supreme Court (left) and the Parliament House (right) where the Singapore Parliament convenes.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the 2017 G20 meeting in Germany. Since 2010, Singapore has often been invited to participate in G20 processes.
In 2007, Singaporean troopers were deployed in Afghanistan as part of a multinational coalition.
Republic of Singapore Air Force Black Knights perform at the Singapore Air Show.
Speakers' Corner in Chinatown provides a public demonstration and "free speech" area usually restricted in other parts of the island.
An outline of Singapore and the surrounding islands and waterways
Singapore Botanic Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage Site – one of three gardens in the world, and the only tropical garden, to be recognised as such.
Singapore Airlines, the country's flag carrier, celebrated the nation's 2015 Golden Jubilee with a flag livery on its Airbus A380.
A proportional representation of Singapore exports, 2019
The Merlion, the official mascot of Singapore
The world's first urban congestion-pricing scheme started in the city centre in 1975 and was fully automated by Electronic Road Pricing in 1998.
Chinese (East Asian), Malay (Southeast Asian), and Indian (South Asian) women in Singapore, circa 1890. To promote racial harmony among the three races, a unique Racial Harmony Day is celebrated on 21 July every year.
Singapore Management University is one of six autonomous universities in the city-state
National University Hospital is the second largest hospital in the city, serving one million patients yearly.
Ornate details on top of Sri Mariamman Temple in Chinatown district, Singapore's oldest Hindu temple since 1827
The National Gallery Singapore oversees the world's largest public collection of Singapore and Southeast Asian art
Lau Pa Sat hawker centre in the financial district. Satay cart-stalls roll in after dusk, on a side street.
Joseph Schooling is a gold medalist and Olympic record holder at the Rio 2016 Games – 100 m butterfly.
The Ministry of Communications and Information oversees the development of Infocomm, Media and the arts.

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia.

Australia

Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
Landing of James Cook at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770 to claim Australia's eastern half for Great Britain
Tasmania's Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian Convict Sites
The Big Picture, a painting by Tom Roberts, depicts the opening of the first Australian Parliament in 1901
The 1942 Bombing of Darwin, the first of over 100 Japanese air raids on Australia during World War II
Postwar migrants from Europe arriving in Australia in 1954
Topographic map of Australia. Dark green represents the lowest elevation and dark brown the highest
Heron Island, a coral cay in the southern Great Barrier Reef
Uluru in the semi-arid region of Central Australia
Basic geological regions of Australia, by age.
Köppen climate types of Australia.
The koala and the eucalyptus form an iconic Australian pair.
Parliament House, Canberra
A map of Australia's states and territories
Diplomatic missions of Australia
HMAS Canberra, a Canberra class landing helicopter dock, and HMAS Arunta, an Anzac-class frigate, sailing in formation
Australian energy resources and major export ports map
The Boddington Gold Mine in Western Australia is the nation's largest open cut mine.
Australia has one of the world's most highly urbanised populations with the majority living in metropolitan cities on the coast, such as Gold Coast, Queensland.
Australian residents by country of birth, 2016 census
Five Australian universities rank in the top 50 of the QS World University Rankings, including the Australian National University (19th).
The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne was the first building in Australia to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Sidney Nolan's Snake mural (1970), held at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania, is inspired by the Aboriginal creation myth of the Rainbow Serpent, as well as desert flowers in bloom after a drought.
Actor playing the bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world's first feature-length narrative film
The meringue-based pavlova is generally eaten at Christmas time.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is strongly associated with the history and development of cricket and Australian rules football, Australia's two most popular spectator sports.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands.

Portrait of "The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster", one of the treaties leading to the Peace of Westphalia, where the concept of the "nation state" was born.

Nation state

Political unit where the state and nation are congruent.

Political unit where the state and nation are congruent.

Portrait of "The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster", one of the treaties leading to the Peace of Westphalia, where the concept of the "nation state" was born.
The Revolutions of 1848 were democratic and liberal in nature, with the aim of removing the old monarchical structures and creating independent nation-states.
Dissolution of the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire (1918)
Ethnolinguistic map of mainland China and Taiwan
School map of Spain from 1850. It can be seen the State divided into four parts:- The "fully constitutional Spain", that includes Castilia, but also Galician-speacking territories. - The "assimilated Spain": territories from the Crown of Aragon,larguely Catalan-speaking territory- the "Foral Spain", which includes Basque-speaking territories- the "Colonial Spain", with last colonial territories.
The Greater German Reich under Nazi Germany in 1943

Walker Connor discusses the impressions surrounding the characters of "nation", "(sovereign) state", "nation state", and "nationalism".

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia during the interwar period and the Cold War
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, founder and first president
Czechoslovak troops in Vladivostok (1918)
Czechoslovak declaration of independence rally in Prague on Wenceslas Square, 28 October 1918
A monument to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and Milan Štefánik—both key figures in early Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia in 1928
Linguistic map of Czechoslovakia in 1930
The partition of Czechoslovakia after Munich Agreement
The car in which Reinhard Heydrich was killed in 1942
Territory of the Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–1939)
Socialist coat of arms in 1960–1989
Spartakiad in 1960
Czechoslovakia after 1969
The Visegrád Group signing ceremony in February 1991
Federal Assembly in Prague
Federative coat of arms in 1990–1992

Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia ( Czech and Československo, Česko-Slovensko), was a sovereign state in Central Europe, created in October 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary.

Great powers are recognized in an international structure such as the United Nations Security Council.

Great power

Great powers are recognized in an international structure such as the United Nations Security Council.
German historian Leopold von Ranke in the mid-19th century attempted to scientifically document the great powers.
The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819
The "Big Four" at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919: David Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson
The "Big Three" of Europe at the Yalta Conference: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin
The Allied leaders of the Asian and Pacific Theatre: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill meeting at the Cairo Conference in 1943

A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale.

Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence

Southern Rhodesia (or Rhodesia), highlighted in red on a map of Africa
The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–63)
Ian Smith replaced Winston Field as Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister in April 1964, and pledged to challenge Britain on independence.
UK Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home met Smith in London in September 1964.
Harold Wilson replaced Douglas-Home in October 1964, and proved a formidable opponent of Smith.
10 Downing Street, where Wilson received Smith in January 1965
The United States Declaration of Independence was used by the Rhodesians as the model for their UDI.
Rhodesian politicians signing the UDI under a portrait of the Queen
The front page of the Rhodesia Heralds 12 November 1965 edition. Note the blank spaces where content was removed by state censors.
Rhodesia House, the Rhodesian High Commission in London, represented Smith's government in the UK until 1969, and became a regular target for political activists.
Bishop Abel Muzorewa, the country's first black Prime Minister, whose unrecognised government revoked UDI in 1979 as part of the Lancaster House Agreement

The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) was a statement adopted by the Cabinet of Rhodesia on 11 November 1965, announcing that Southern Rhodesia or simply Rhodesia, a British territory in southern Africa that had governed itself since 1923, now regarded itself as an independent sovereign state.

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International relations

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The field of international relations dates from the time of the Greek historian Thucydides.
The official portraits of King Władysław IV dressed according to French, Spanish and Polish fashion reflects the complex politics of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Thirty Years' War.
Empires of the world in 1910
NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan
The United Nations Secretariat Building at the United Nations headquarters in New York City
The World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C.
NATO E-3A flying with USAF F-16s in a NATO exercise

International relations (IR), international studies or international affairs (IA) is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states.

The Hittite version of the Treaty of Kadesh, among the earliest extant examples of an international agreement.

Diplomatic recognition

The Hittite version of the Treaty of Kadesh, among the earliest extant examples of an international agreement.

Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state (may be also a recognized state).