With the current political climate being what it is, many of you might be thinking to yourselves-
the hell with it, I'll just start my own country.
If so, you'd be joining the ranks of Somaliland, Transnistria, and the Principality of Sealand
to name a few.
But what is the exact process of starting your own country, how can you do so legally,
and how can you be recognized by the global community as an independent nation?
Welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show- today we're taking a look at how to
start your own country.
The first step to starting your own country will be territory- after all a country can't
really be a country without, well, a countryside.
Unfortunately for you all the prime real estate has already been gobbled up, so if you're
seeking to form your new country peacefully you're probably going to have to go remote-
really remote.
Several islands around the South Pacific remain unclaimed by any sovereign state and are today
just waiting to be made into independent nations- although given their extreme remoteness, good
luck getting basic goods and services there.
Alternatively you could look for small parcels of land around the world that rest between
major powers yet neither lay claims to.
The micro-state of Liberland for example was formed from territory along the Danube that
neither Croatia nor Serbia lay claim to.
It's size is only 2.7 square miles (7 square kilometers), but with only a handful of citizens
there's plenty of space to be sovereign.
If you're looking for other available real estate you could take a claim in Bir Tawil
which lies between Egypt and Sudan (spoiler alert: it's a barren desert with no access
to fresh water), or portions of Antarctica.
If none of the available less-than-prime real estate appeals to you, you could always just
build your own.
Per international law nations can only claim up to 12 miles past their shores- so if you
had the money to, you could start dredging up the sea floor and build a brand new island
nation of your own.
The cost would be staggering, but it is an option available to you.
Alternatively you could try your hand at building a floating nation- many architecture firms
around the world have drawn up very realistic, if also extremely expensive, plans for floating
cities.
While the technical know-how is certainly there, the capital is definitely not.
But maybe you don't just want to declare independence from your home country, but from the surface
world entirely.
You could take the Bioshock route and build a city on the seafloor itself and declare
yourself sovereign.
Whether that's technically feasible with today's technology is a complete toss-up, but legally
speaking you would be well within your rights to do so.
If you think it would be easier to simply dig down below an existing nation and declare
your independence mole-people style, that's probably not going to work as laws dictating
just how far down national sovereignty goes aren't very clear- but given that the deepest
mines in the world still fall under national sovereignty you're going to at least have
to go deeper than the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa, which is 2.5 miles (4 km) deep.
At those depths heat from the earth's core raises the temperature to 100 degrees or more
(38 celsius), so we hope you like it hot.
The last option available to you would be the most obvious- declare independence or
take territory by force.
Historically neither of those approaches has worked very well without massive support,
and you can ask Germany about its very painful 20thcentury lessons in playing nice with your
neighbors.
You'll next need to determine a system of government.
Are you going to uphold global democratic values, become an egomaniac dictator, establish
a hereditary monarchy, or create a new theocracy?
Perhaps you're looking to found a libertarian state where, well, we imagine not much of
anything would actually get done.
The choice on how to govern yourself and your citizens is completely up to you, but whatever
you choose you'll need a cohesive national government in order to be recognized by the
international community and not just seen as a bunch of idealistic squatters.
Your government should provide for the basic needs of your people, or not- but if you want
to be recognized as a nation it must meet one requirement: have an apparatus by which
it can interact with other foreign powers.
You're free to skip on social services and even a military if you like, but a secretary
of state or similar position is vital for being internationally recognized.
Nobody says it has to be a competent secretary of state, just that you need one- so feel
free to nominate your cat if you like, it will technically fulfill this obligation.
So you've successfully declared independence from the world and established the Kingdom
of You, with Mr. Sprinkles as your secretary of state through which all foreign powers
must channel their diplomatic requests- what's left?
Well, you're going to need to be recognized internationally as a sovereign state if you
want to have a chance of surviving, and that means establishing diplomatic ties with other
powers.
If nobody takes you seriously, you may fulfill all the legal obligations under international
law to become a free state, but won't be recognized as such.
The best way to do that would be to send diplomatic envoys to nations friendly to your ideology-
Taiwan, while technically still a part of China, has for decades declared itself an
independent and sovereign nation from mainland Communist China.
In order to protect themselves from forcefully re-joining a nation they no longer want to
be a part of, they have garnered the support of powerful nations friendly to their democratic
ideals such as the US and much of Europe.
As we have seen multiple times in the latter half of the 20thcentury, without these powerful
ties Taiwan would have been forcefully reabsorbed by China- yet the threat imposed by its powerful
friends has so far kept Chinese invasion forces at bay and respected Taiwan's sovereignty.
Yet though Taiwan is sovereign and seems to fulfill all the obligations for the creation
of an independent nation, it is not widely recognized as such due to Chinese threats
against nations whom would do so.
If Taiwan were formally recognized as a free nation, any future military action by China
to force it into the fold would be seen as not an internal matter, but a hostile invasion
of a foreign nation, and thus prompt a global response per the UN charter.
Thus China has threatened outright use of force against the island state if any nation,
including the US, chooses to formally recognize Taiwan as independent.
So for your budding micronation, the lesson to be learned is to make powerful friends,
but if at all possible to avoid making powerful enemies as well.
The best way to ensure you are declared a free and sovereign state would be to simply
join the UN, which is not nearly as difficult as one might think.
All you need to do- and we are not making this up- is simply write a letter to the secretary-general
and request membership.
That's it.
There are no forms to fill out, no need to even outline what your nation is or how it
is governed- just ask.
If you're currently in the midst of establishing your own sovereign state you're free to send
your own application right now to:
Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General
The United Nations First Ave. at 46thSt.
New York, NY 10017
The next step however is a bit harder- your application must be referred by the Security
Council to the General Assembly, where it must win a two-thirds majority who all agree
you are a peace-loving state and can carry out the duties of the U.N. Charter.
Basically the charter states that you will preserve the rule of law, support human rights
in your nation, and maintain global peace- so if you're looking to start the state of
The Murderous Republic of Murder, you're probably not going to gain entry to the UN.
But nothing says you have to be a part of the UN to be an independent nation.
The Vatican City, Palestine, Taiwan, Western Sahara, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and
Northern Cyprus are all non-US members but recognized by at least one country that is.
It'll certainly help your cause to be in the UN, but as we've seen, it's not entirely necessary.
So how would you rule your own country- would you be a champion of democracy and human rights,
or a cruel and terrible dictator?
Would you establish free elections, or bring back hereditary rule?
Let us know in the comments!.
Also, be sure to check out our other video The JFK Assassination - What Really Happened?.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.