Size Does Not Matter

• 01.16.2015, 17:25
•  NKR

From the series of "Internationally recognized small countries"

It is a common knowledge, that quantity never means quality... However, very often the opponents of Karabakh statehood justify their not recognition of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR) with quantitative data, for example: "Can we consider it as a country, when one can count the population living there on the fingers of two hands". Nevertheless, it is noteworthy, that NKR with its population (more than 140 thousand) is ahead of many other countries that are internationally recognized and are considered as full UN members.

Thus among the 192 UN member countries there are ones, the population of which barely exceeds 10 thousand. For example, the Republic of Nauru, which declared its independence from Great Britain, Austria and New Zealand in 1968, today has a bit more than 13 thousand people. The most interesting part is that at the moment of its declaration of independence, the population of Nauru was 3000, and the "factor of quantity" did not have any influence on its further development. By the way, Nauru is the smallest independent republic in this planet today  and the smallest state outside the borders of Europe. Still, since 1999 the Republic of Nauru has also become a full UN member state. 

In addition one should mention, the world experience is not only full of examples of peninsula-countries. There are also other examples of other internationally recognized countries that are not peninsulas, but in the process of their recognition the fact that the number of their population exceeded 10 thousand only a little bit, has not played any role.  Around the world there are a lot of such countries and they are called microstates.

Reference

Microstates differ essentially from the other countries by  several criteria: territory, population, etc. Very often the number of population is taken as the main criteria. At the same time, according to the terminology of the UN and the World Bank, microstates are considered those ones, the populations of which do not exceed 1 million. Thus sometimes microstates are called also those countries that have 500 thousand people.

Almost every day TV and Radio make reports on such countries like Vatican and Israel: Though these are small countries, can we find anyone in the world that has not heard about these countries? Despite of their small population such countries like Luxemburg, Andorra, Malta, San Marino, Liechtenstein and Monaco are UN full members and sometimes have much longer history, than the most densely populated countries in the world.

On the slope of mount Titano, in the center of Italy, the country San Marino is located, the population of which is 29 thousand.  This is the oldest country of "old" Europe, which was found in 301 by stonemason Marinus, who had escaped from the Roman emperor Diocletian's anti-Christian persecution. The courageous Marinus was able to find a shelter on the Mount Titano, where he later created a small Christian community. At first this location was called "the State of Saint Marinus", and then it became San Marino. How amazing it may sound, it was the inconvenient geographical location and the poverty that gave San Marini an opportunity to preserve its real independence. "We welcome you in the country of independence", - this reads everyone who passes the border of San Marino. In reality,  for the citizens of the "country of independence" the most important thing has always been independence. Even the almighty Napoleon, knowing how persistently and courageously the people of San Marino fight for their right on independence, did not dare to challenge their this right. Napoleon declared that that San Marino should be preserved as an example of independence in the world and sent an ambassador with a  message, where he approved the independence of the community, and also promised its support in case of any infringement. Till now the 17th century Constitution has a legal force there, while that amazing country is ruled by a Council consisting of 60 elected members. Every year more than 3.5 million tourists spend their holidays there. The country exports ceramics, wine, paints, building stones and chemicals.

However, besides the historically formed countries there are examples of comparably young microstates. For example, city-state Singapore can become a good example of jumping from third"order" country into a developed one that has high living standards. Bahraine is the smallest Arabic state, which is known as a trade center from ancient times. Nowadays Bahrain is one of the US' main strategic partners. The small and not widely recognized Brunei, which population is 380 thousand, occupies  the 8th place in the list of the happiest states. This rich and stable country till now provides its citizens with free medical service and education, even with free higher education.

In this case, is there a need to speak about such microstates like Luxemburg, Monaco, Bermuda and Liechtenstein? These are countries that are known all over the world despite the fact, that the populations of these countries do not exceed even 100 thousand.

Thus, let's go back to the beginning of the article. Can a state, which, for example, has 140 thousand people living there, be an independent, prosperous and internationally recognized country? The answer is certain – the quantity does not really matter. And there are a lot of such examples in world experience. Therefore, we will wait for the next example, even not mentioning any  names…

   By Karin Stepanyan