States

States

Since modern European times, a state has been defined as any political order that includes a common territory defined as a national territory, an associated state people and the exercise of power over this. There is no generally applicable interpretation of such regulations.

The question of the form and nature of a state concerns state theory as a philosophical discipline and general state theory as a legal-theoretical discipline.

There are historically very different theories about the emergence of uniform political communities, most of which are linked to the legitimacy of a current form of government.

Classic international law distinguishes the following three characteristics of the state:

1. A population (national people).
2. A geographically definable part of the earth`s surface, the national territory.
3. A steadfast government that exercises effective force, the state power.

The constitutional and international law expert Georg Jellinek developed this so-called three-element theory, which is now generally accepted. The Montevideo Convention names the ability to enter into relations with other states as a further criterion. According to the prevailing view, recognition of states has a purely declaratory effect, i. H. it is not determinative of the status of the recognized State as a State.

The law of state succession regulates the question of when and to what extent new states enter into the legal positions of their predecessor states. State succession is governed almost exclusively by customary international law.

In total there are 193 fully recognized sovereign states, including the 192 members of the UN and Vatican City State.