Micronations

Definition

Micronations are aspirant states that claim independence but lack legal recognition by world governments or major international organisations. Micronations are classified separately from states with limited recognition and quasi-states, nor are they considered to be autonomous or self-governing as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. While some are secessionist in nature, most micronations are widely regarded as sovereignty projects that instead seek to mimic a sovereign state rather than to achieve international recognition, and their activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to as a macronation in micronationalism. Some micronations admit to having no intention of actually becoming internationally recognised as sovereign. Geographically, most micronations are very small, are often the outgrowth of a single individual, rely on their sovereign state to some extent, and mimic sovereign states by creating their own government, legislation, proclaiming national symbols, holding national elections and engaging in diplomacy with other micronations. While most micronations claim sovereignty over physical territory, others are based solely around the Internet or do not claim sovereignty at all, a hobbyist paradigm of micronationalism that arose with the rise of the Internet from the mid-1990s onwards.