With the current political climate being what
it is, many of you might be thinking to yourselves- the hell with it, I'll just start my own country. If so, you'd be joining the ranks of Somaliland,
Transnistria, and the Principality of Sealand to name a few. But what is the exact process of starting
your own country, how can you do so legally, and how can you be recognized by the global
community as an independent nation? Welcome to another episode of The Infographics
Show- today we're taking a look at how to start your own country. The first step to starting your own country
will be territory- after all a country can't really be a country without, well, a countryside. Unfortunately for you all the prime real estate
has already been gobbled up, so if you're seeking to form your new country peacefully
you're probably going to have to go remote- really remote. Several islands around the South Pacific remain
unclaimed by any sovereign state and are today just waiting to be made into independent nations-
although given their extreme remoteness, good luck getting basic goods and services there. Alternatively you could look for small parcels
of land around the world that rest between major powers yet neither lay claims to. The micro-state of Liberland for example was
formed from territory along the Danube that neither Croatia nor Serbia lay claim to. It's size is only 2.7 square miles (7 square
kilometers), but with only a handful of citizens there's plenty of space to be sovereign. If you're looking for other available real
estate you could take a claim in Bir Tawil which lies between Egypt and Sudan (spoiler
alert: it's a barren desert with no access to fresh water), or portions of Antarctica. If none of the available less-than-prime real
estate appeals to you, you could always just build your own. Per international law nations can only claim
up to 12 miles past their shores- so if you had the money to, you could start dredging
up the sea floor and build a brand new island nation of your own. The cost would be staggering, but it is an
option available to you. Alternatively you could try your hand at building
a floating nation- many architecture firms around the world have drawn up very realistic,
if also extremely expensive, plans for floating cities. While the technical know-how is certainly
there, the capital is definitely not. But maybe you don't just want to declare independence
from your home country, but from the surface world entirely. You could take the Bioshock route and build
a city on the seafloor itself and declare yourself sovereign. Whether that's technically feasible with today's
technology is a complete toss-up, but legally speaking you would be well within your rights
to do so. If you think it would be easier to simply
dig down below an existing nation and declare your independence mole-people style, that's
probably not going to work as laws dictating just how far down national sovereignty goes
aren't very clear- but given that the deepest mines in the world still fall under national
sovereignty you're going to at least have to go deeper than the Mponeng gold mine in
South Africa, which is 2.5 miles (4 km) deep. At those depths heat from the earth's core
raises the temperature to 100 degrees or more (38 celsius), so we hope you like it hot. The last option available to you would be
the most obvious- declare independence or take territory by force. Historically neither of those approaches has
worked very well without massive support, and you can ask Germany about its very painful
20thcentury lessons in playing nice with your neighbors. You'll next need to determine a system of
government. Are you going to uphold global democratic
values, become an egomaniac dictator, establish a hereditary monarchy, or create a new theocracy? Perhaps you're looking to found a libertarian
state where, well, we imagine not much of anything would actually get done. The choice on how to govern yourself and your
citizens is completely up to you, but whatever you choose you'll need a cohesive national
government in order to be recognized by the international community and not just seen
as a bunch of idealistic squatters. Your government should provide for the basic
needs of your people, or not- but if you want to be recognized as a nation it must meet
one requirement: have an apparatus by which it can interact with other foreign powers. You're free to skip on social services and
even a military if you like, but a secretary of state or similar position is vital for
being internationally recognized. Nobody says it has to be a competent secretary
of state, just that you need one- so feel free to nominate your cat if you like, it
will technically fulfill this obligation. So you've successfully declared independence
from the world and established the Kingdom of You, with Mr. Sprinkles as your secretary
of state through which all foreign powers must channel their diplomatic requests- what's
left? Well, you're going to need to be recognized
internationally as a sovereign state if you want to have a chance of surviving, and that
means establishing diplomatic ties with other powers. If nobody takes you seriously, you may fulfill
all the legal obligations under international law to become a free state, but won't be recognized
as such. The best way to do that would be to send diplomatic
envoys to nations friendly to your ideology- Taiwan, while technically still a part of
China, has for decades declared itself an independent and sovereign nation from mainland
Communist China. In order to protect themselves from forcefully
re-joining a nation they no longer want to be a part of, they have garnered the support
of powerful nations friendly to their democratic ideals such as the US and much of Europe. As we have seen multiple times in the latter
half of the 20thcentury, without these powerful ties Taiwan would have been forcefully reabsorbed
by China- yet the threat imposed by its powerful friends has so far kept Chinese invasion forces
at bay and respected Taiwan's sovereignty. Yet though Taiwan is sovereign and seems to
fulfill all the obligations for the creation of an independent nation, it is not widely
recognized as such due to Chinese threats against nations whom would do so. If Taiwan were formally recognized as a free
nation, any future military action by China to force it into the fold would be seen as
not an internal matter, but a hostile invasion of a foreign nation, and thus prompt a global
response per the UN charter. Thus China has threatened outright use of
force against the island state if any nation, including the US, chooses to formally recognize
Taiwan as independent. So for your budding micronation, the lesson
to be learned is to make powerful friends, but if at all possible to avoid making powerful
enemies as well. The best way to ensure you are declared a
free and sovereign state would be to simply join the UN, which is not nearly as difficult
as one might think. All you need to do- and we are not making
this up- is simply write a letter to the secretary-general and request membership. That's it. There are no forms to fill out, no need to
even outline what your nation is or how it is governed- just ask. If you're currently in the midst of establishing
your own sovereign state you're free to send your own application right now to: Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General The United Nations
First Ave. at 46thSt. New York, NY 10017 The next step however is a bit harder- your
application must be referred by the Security Council to the General Assembly, where it
must win a two-thirds majority who all agree you are a peace-loving state and can carry
out the duties of the U.N. Charter. Basically the charter states that you will
preserve the rule of law, support human rights in your nation, and maintain global peace-
so if you're looking to start the state of The Murderous Republic of Murder, you're probably
not going to gain entry to the UN. But nothing says you have to be a part of
the UN to be an independent nation. The Vatican City, Palestine, Taiwan, Western
Sahara, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Northern Cyprus are all non-US members but
recognized by at least one country that is. It'll certainly help your cause to be in the
UN, but as we've seen, it's not entirely necessary. So how would you rule your own country- would
you be a champion of democracy and human rights, or a cruel and terrible dictator? Would you establish free elections, or bring
back hereditary rule? Let us know in the comments!. Also, be sure to check out our other video
The JFK Assassination - What Really Happened?. Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t
forget to like, share and subscribe. See you next time.
