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What is a country? While certain basic criteria—borders, a government, and recognition from other countries—seem obvious, journalist Joshua Keating investigates what happens in areas of the world that exist as exceptions to these rules. Invisible Countries looks at semiautonomous countries such as Abkhazia, Kurdistan, and Somaliland, as well as a Mohawk reservation straddling the U.S.-Canada border, and an island nation whose very existence is threatened by climate change.
Through stories about these would-be countries’ efforts at self-determination, Keating shows that there is no universal legal authority determining what a country is. He also argues that economic, cultural, and environmental forces could soon bring an end to our long period of cartographical stasis. Keating combines history with incisive observations drawn from his travels and interviews with residents, political leaders, and scholars in each of these “invisible countries.”
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 11, 2020 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
- ISBN: 9780300235050
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780300235050
- File size: 1847 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780300235050
- File size: 2405 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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June 15, 2018
Keating (foreign policy analyst & staff writer, Slate) writes about a topic that far too often gets treated as a joke. All over the world there are small, or not so small, areas that make a claim to "nationhood" but are not recognized by the geopolitical world at large. Keating examines some of these countries and how their continued existence questions the current world order. This volume takes a detailed look at "unrecognized" countries--including Abkhazia, Somaliland, Kurdistan, and Akwesasne--and passing looks at another four outliers that mark exceptions to the worldview defined by national borders (The Knights of Malta, Estonia's e-residency, Liberland, and stateless people). Keating successfully fulfills his larger purpose by exploring how the borders of the modern world came to be, what holds them in place, and what might be the implications of changing them. He accomplishes this through discussions of the difference among state, nation, and country, while taking thought-provoking side discussions about whether a country can survive the loss of its geographical location (Kiribati) or if a state is truly needed (12 million stateless people). VERDICT A great book for general readers and undergraduates.--John Sandstrom, New Mexico State Univ. Lib., Las Cruces
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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