User:Universal Life/Autonomous states and areas

The following is a list of de facto sovereign states and inhabited autonomous areas of the world and includes the following entities.

Included Entities

 * 1) 🇺🇳 UN: All the United Nations Member States and Observer States that also exercise actual sovereign power over the territory they control (de facto sovereign states). -- "Both de jure and de facto states"
 * 2) *Sovereignty is the full right and power of a governing body over itself, without any interference from outside sources or bodies.
 * 3) *De facto sovereignty is the factual ability of a state to exercise its power, while de jure sovereignty refers to the legal right to do so.
 * 4) *Most countries are both de facto and de jure (i.e., they exist both in reality and in law), while some de facto sovereign states are not recognised by the international community and some de jure states are recognised as the legitimate government of a territory over which they have no actual control.
 * 5) *This category includes the 193 member states of the United Nations (UN) and the Vatican City (administered by the Holy See, a UN observer state).
 * 6) *Palestine, even though a UN observer state, is not listed in this category because it is solely a de jure state.
 * 7) Other States: All other de facto sovereign states that are neither member states nor observer states of the UN. -- "Only de facto states"
 * 8) *Only the entities that consider themselves sovereign (through a declaration of independence or some other means) and are often regarded as satisfying the declarative theory of statehood are considered a state and included in this category.
 * 9) *The declarative theory defines a state as a person in international law if it meets the following criteria:
 * 10) *# a defined territory
 * 11) *# a permanent population
 * 12) *# a government, and
 * 13) *# a capacity to enter into relations with other states.
 * 14) *Therefore, this category contains:
 * 15) **States with limited recognition (Abkhazia, Kosovo, Northern Cyprus, Somaliland and Taiwan etc.)
 * 16) **Associated states not members of the United Nations (Cook Islands and Niue)
 * 17) *The constitutive theory of statehood is not applied for the purpose of this list.
 * 18) Proto-States: A proto-state is a nascent political entity that has some of the characteristics of a state but is not considered fully established. As it is usually categorised between a non-state and a state entity, its precise definition mostly flactuates in political literature and is determined according to context.
 * 19) *For the purpose of this list, it is defined as a middle category between "other states" and "dependent territories" and includes the following:
 * 20) **Subnational entities and regions that function as de facto independent states, with the central government exercising little or no control over their territory. However, they do not explicitly claim to be independent states. Examples include Galmudug and Puntland in Somalia, Gaza in Palestine, Iraqi Kurdistan, Rojava in Syria, and the Wa State in Myanmar.
 * 21) **Rebel groups that have declared independence, exerts control over a territory and possess most state governing functions but is not yet considered to have achieved full institutionalisation. Examples include Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. A well-known example from contemporary history is the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
 * 22) *In any case, it should at least be maintaining most of the attributes of a functioning state to be included in this category.
 * 23) *Micronations, uncontacted peoples and areas in the active phase of a current civil war (where no stable proto-state has emerged) are excluded.
 * 24) *Deep states, also called states within a state are sometimes confused with a proto-state and are also excluded.
 * 25) Dependent Territories: A dependent territory or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty yet remains politically outside the controlling state's integral area. A dependency is commonly distinguished from country subdivisions by not being considered to be an integral territory of the governing state. Administrative subdivisions instead are understood as typically representing a division of the state proper. A dependent territory conversely often maintains a great degree of autonomy from the controlling central state.
 * 26) *Only currently inhabited entities are included in this category. Uninhabited dependencies or those populated by a very few number of scientists etc. are excluded.
 * 27) *This category includes the following:
 * 28) **All inhabited dependent territories such as Cocos (Keeling) Islands of Australia, Bailiwick of Guernsey of the UK, Puerto Rico of the USA and Tokelau of New Zealand.
 * 29) **Some similar entities that inhabit a special position guaranteed by international treaty or other agreement; creating a certain level of autonomy (e.g., differences in immigration rules). These are sometimes considered or at least grouped with dependencies, but are officially considered by their controlling states to be integral parts of the state. Examples include Åland of Finland and Hong Kong of China.
 * 30) **Any other de facto non-sovereign autonomous entity with a similar special position and excluded from the state proper, such as Palestine.
 * 31) **Other entities often regarded as separate geographical territories even though they are integral parts of their mother countries, such as Guadeloupe and Réunion of the overseas departments of France.
 * 32) Autonomous Areas: An autonomous area is defined as an area of a country that has a degree of autonomy or has freedom from an external authority. Dependent territories also possess a great deal of autonomy however they are usually not an integral part of the country.
 * 33) *Examples include Nakhchivan of Azerbaijan, Aceh and West Papua of Indonesia, South Tyrol and Trentino of Italy and Rodrigues of Mauritius.
 * 34) *This category includes any inhabited autonomous area with the exception of:
 * 35) **Those who fall under the above dependent territories category.
 * 36) **Nominal "autonomous" areas: Those who are officially called "autonomous", though they do not have an exceptional freedom from external authority, such as the "autonomous city" of Buenos Aires.
 * 37) **Those who have risen from the status of autonomy into a proto-state or sovereign state, such as Iraqi Kurdistan and Abkhazia.
 * 38) Special Territories: For the purpose of this list, a special territory is any inhabited area that is neither a de facto sovereign, dependent or autonomous polity nor is an integral part of another external authority. Therefore while it is beyond the reach of any external authority it includes those entities that do not fall under any of the categories (or definitions) above.
 * 39) *Units or areas formed by active war zones with a defined population, where no stable proto-state has emerged.
 * 40) *Inhabited areas under no one's control, such as Abyei.
 * 41) *Sovereign areas that don't fit the modern definition of a state, such as North Sentinel Island.