A man-made concept that doesn’t really make sense and still makes my head spin.
Let me see…
- Defined Territory
- Membership (Citizenship)
- Freedom of movement within the territory (Usually… but not always… ahem Hukou ahem)
- Usually controlled boundaries of the territory (aka: borders). Members can usually freely enter or leave (assuming they haven’t violated any of the rules (laws) of the country). Non members would need to have permission. Usually, there are special identity documents given by a person’s country of membership, to be used to ascertain their identity and which country they have membership in.
- Usually, everyone has at least one country where they have membership in… but some people have zero… and that’s sad, because they aren’t allowed to go to clubs to party without membership 😥 (#EndStatelessnessPls)
Um yea, countries still make no sense.
Can we all just be one United Earth?
The Expanse Timeline?
A country is a military.
A country is just a territory. Citizenship is a database entry. Soldier is a job.
One of my favorite questions to answer; what’s the difference between a country, a state, and a nation. All 3 terms are used interchangeably but actually do have very specific meanings.
A country is the geographical region that includes the territories and borders of a state or nation.
A state is the governing body that operates and exerts administrative control over a territory or nation.
A nation is much more complicated and not as clear cut but in essence is the people who occupy a country or state. The bonds that create a nation can be different depending on who you ask and be a global world spanning bond like a religion or language or something small scale and local, like a sports team or a neighborhood block.
Hope that helps
