If you’ve ever tried to start your own nation, there are many reasons why you might find it easier done in space, than on terra firma. As per the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States; in order to be considered a nation, your ‘country’ must possess:
- [a] a permanent population
- [b] a defined territory
- [c] government;
- [d] the capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
Finding a population willing to jump nationalities is not a difficult task on a planet with so much conflict, displacement, and statelessness. Finding land that’s up for grabs, however, is tricky.
The vast majority of Earth’s surface area is claimed by one nation or another; the largest exception being Antarctica – whose human colonization is ruled out by the Antarctic Treaty. Putting your flag on another country’s territory is an invitation for war – and chances are, you don’t have an army. What you’re left with is Terra Nullius, or No Man’s Land – plots of land forgotten in territorial agreements, that are often sandwiched between nations, or in island form.
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