What is a country? The 4 key requirements for statehood

What makes a state? In this video, I explain the four key attributes any country must possess. Welcome to Independent Thinking. A channel dedicated to international relations, independence disputes, secession and the origins of countries. It is accepted that any territory that wants to be considered a state must meet four criteria. These are a settled population, a defined territory, government and the ability to enter into relations with other states. These were originally set out in the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States. Even now, these are the benchmarks used by the UN when judging whether to admit a new member. But what do they mean in real terms? Using examples of current states, I show that there are actually huge variations in each of these attributes. Russia, China, Monaco and Tuvalu are all states, but vastly different in terms of size and population. In fact, one of the key attributes of statehood is even considered in a radically different way in the 21st century.