CountryA country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the country of Wales is a component of a multi-part sovereign state, the United Kingdom. A country may be a historically sovereign area (such as Korea), a currently sovereign territory with a unified government (such as Senegal), or a non-sovereign geographic region associated with certain distinct political, ethnic, or cultural characteristics (such as the Basque Country).
SovereigntySovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate authority over other people in order to establish a law or change existing laws. In political theory, sovereignty is a substantive term designating supreme legitimate authority over some polity. In international law, sovereignty is the exercise of power by a state.
PalauPalau (officially the Republic of Palau and historically Belau, Palaos or Pelew) is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific. The republic consists of approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caroline Islands with parts of the Federated States of Micronesia. It has a total area of , making it one of the smallest countries in the world. The most populous island is Koror, home to the country's most populous city of the same name.
State (polity)A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. Definitions of a state are disputed. One widely used definition comes from the sociologist Max Weber: a "state" is a polity that maintains a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, although other definitions are common. Absence of a state does not preclude the existence of a society, such as stateless societies like the Haudenosaunee Confederacy that "do not have either purely or even primarily political institutions or roles".
JurisdictionJurisdiction (from Latin juris 'law' + dictio 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. Jurisdiction draws its substance from international law, conflict of laws, constitutional law, and the powers of the executive and legislative branches of government to allocate resources to best serve the needs of society.
Kingdom of the NetherlandsThe Kingdom of the Netherlands (Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, ˈkoːnɪŋkrɛik dɛr ˈneːdərlɑndə(n)), commonly known as simply the Netherlands, consists of the entire area in which the monarch of the Netherlands functions as head of state. The realm is not a federation; it is a collection of states and territories united under its monarch. 98% of its territory and population is in Western Europe; it also includes several small West Indian island territories in the Caribbean (in the Leeward Islands and Leeward Antilles groups).
