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Building your sovereign state 101
(By Juls)
(By Juls)
What is a sovereign state?
Wikipedia wrote:A sovereign state is a nonphysical juridical entity of the international legal system that is represented by one centralized government that has supreme independent authority over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states.
Example: France (France is a sovereign state that has no other master than itself and is not dependent on any other country [politically]), etc.
What is a country then?
Wikipedia wrote:A country is a region identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated peoples with distinct political characteristics.
Example: Faroe Islands (the Faroe Islands are a country part of the Danish Realm, therefore dependent on it), Quebec (the Province of Quebec is a political entity hosting the Québécois nation and is dependent on the sovereign state of Canada), etc.
What is a nation?
Wikipedia wrote:A nation is a large group of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, or history. In the late 20th century, many social scientists argued that there were two types of nations, the civic nation of which France was the principal example and the ethnic nation exemplified by the German peoples.
Example: Kurds (they are a nation without a country or sovereign state), Russians (population not only in Russia but in various other countries as minorities), etc.
So what can I create from that and roleplay?
Any of the above can be roleplayed, just like any administrative division of such entity can be roleplayed just like any nation without a state or without being a country.
First steps
There are many different important steps to take in order to maximize pleasure and efficiency within USNW in creating your sovereign nation. Here is a list I propose of how you should do that:
1. Get informed about USNW and other nations already existing. (Look at maps, especially political map, climate and topography)
2. Pick a location that fits what you're looking for and that isn't already occupied by a player's state.
3. Establish a language for your state (it will depend on the region and states around as all languages in the world are linked one way or another except a few isolated ones; for example, someone using the French language for their state will need to have a location near other romance speaking nations like Spanish, Italian, etc.)
4. Create basic information (naming, flag, coa, etc.)
5. Establish vital statistics (population, GDP, GDPpc, political system, economic system, etc.)
6. Establish a history (this step usually needs assistance from other players as well as it usually involves many roleplaying entities and is in constant development)
7. Establish the rest (culture, politics, economy, demographics, etc.)
8. Ready to RolePlay!
Details
It is important to be detailed when creating your state. So here's more detailed information about various important aspects:
Population
To decide on the size of your population, you should use a reverse approach using the area of your country and multiplying it by a population density. For example, an area of 42,592 km² x 120/km² would make a population of 5,111,040 inhabitants.
A more favorable climate (e.g. India, Italy, Netherlands) will favor a higher population density. However, a more hostile climate (Libya [desert], Canada [arctic], Buthan [mountains] or Congo [jungle/forests] will favor a lower population density. Just go with common sense also based on how your nation is. If your nation is North American in culture and economics, don't have a population density higher than 50.
GDP (PPP) per capita
OECD wrote:GDP is an aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident institutional units engaged in production (plus any taxes, and minus any subsidies, on products not included in the value of their outputs).
Now calculating GDP is not complicated if you have the appropriate stats, however it is harder for us to come up with realistic stats and calculate with mathematical formulas extremely accurate GDPs. Therefore, we shall go with a simple way to calculate GDP and it is through GDPpc. GDPpc is more important than GDP itself, because it redistributes equally the GDP value to a 'per capita'/'per inhabitant' basis to facilitate understanding. It is often wrongly used as a way to calculate the wealth of a nation. It only calculates the wealth of a state, which is highly different. A state could have a very high GDPpc (e.g. Qatar) and still have a majority of its population being poor. This is due to another indicator (GINI) of income inequality. On the other hand, a state with relatively lower GDPpc (e.g. Latvia) may have a majority of its population being middle class and with a high standard of living despite a lower GDP. It really depends on the economics of the country and the political system.
At this point, you're supposed to have already established a language and some stats such as population, economic system and political system. Knowing you have that in mind, you can roughly get an idea of how your country should compare to real-life countries on Earth.
Countries by GDP (PPP) Per Capita
Here again, use common sense. The more population you have, in most cases, the lower GDPpc you'll have. Of course it depends on the economic and political aspects as well, but in general, higher population countries (Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, etc.) have weaker economies. Natural resources like oil do not mean you have a higher GDPpc randomly. Large oil producing countries like Nigeria, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and Indonesia, all don't have a very high GDPpc, roughly around $7-15k. That can in no way be compared to other oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Norway, Canada, who all have way lower populations. In mot cases, the higher GDPpc you have, the better your population's living condition is doing and the more developed a state you have.