The Governance Gauge: Invisible Countries

We hope you’re enjoying your Sunday, and hope that this weekend’s Governance Gauge will get you ready for the coming week! For more reading materials, our reading list is constantly updated.

“Invisible Countries” is a book by Slate foreign policy analyst Joshua Keating, and focuses on the very edge of nationhood. The book examines the arguments for and against the sovereignty of various legal persons: from well-founded claims such as Transnistria and Abkhazia, to unilaterally declared micronation projects no larger than a house.

The book is hardly academic-level reading, but brings forward highly relevant points in the questions of government, diplomatic recognition, and sovereignty.

The 5 chapters of the book are mostly expressed in a first person and somewhat informal format, but with well-sourced and excellent argumentation throughout.

Creators of zones and societies will find little practical application for the ideas contained in the book, but chapters 1 and 2 can offer an excellent understanding of the legal underpinnings of zone and new country creation.

Policymakers and analysts will find the examinations of separatist movements, international law analyses and border control processes quite interesting — located in chapters 3, 4 and 5.

Scholars and experts of international law will probably already have read this book, but the notes and sources to chapters 2 and 4 are a treasure trove of academic papers regarding digital, non-territorial, disappearing, and other governments.

Audio, print, and digital versions of the book may be purchased here.