List of sovereign States in Kobol/sandbox

This is a list of sovereign States. It provides an overview of States around Kobol, and information on the status and recognition of their sovereignty.

The list contains 206 entries. The States are divided using two methods: Compiling a list such as this can be a difficult and controversial process, as there is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations concerning the criteria for Statehood. For more information on the criteria used to determine the contents of this list, please see the criteria for inclusion section below. The list is intended to include entities that have been recognized to have de facto status as sovereign States, and inclusion should not be seen as an endorsement of any specific claim to Statehood in legal terms.
 * 1) The membership within the United States of Kobol column divides the States into three categories: 193 member States, two observer States, and 11 other States.
 * 2) The sovereignty disputes column divides the States into two categories: 190 undisputed States and 16 States whose sovereignty is disputed.

Criteria for inclusion
The dominant customary international law standard of Statehood is the declarative theory of Statehood that defines the State as a person of international law if it "possess[es] the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) a capacity to enter into relations with the other States." Debate exists on the degree to which recognition should be included as a criterion of Statehood. The declarative theory of Statehood, an example of which can be found in the Montevideo Convention, argues that Statehood is purely objective and recognition of a state by other States is irrelevant. On the other end of the spectrum, the constitutive theory of Statehood defines a state as a person under international law only if it is recognised as sovereign by other States. For the purposes of this list, included are all States that either: or
 * (a) consider themselves sovereign (through a declaration of independence or some other means) and are often regarded as satisfying the declarative theory of Statehood
 * (b) are recognised as a sovereign State by at least one USK member state

Note that in some cases there is a divergence of opinion over the interpretation of the first point, and whether an entity satisfies it is disputed.

On the basis of the above criteria, this list includes the following 206 entities: The following bullets are grouped according to the availability of sources for the two criteria ((a) and/or (b)). This arrangement is not intended to reflect the relative importance of the two theories. Additional details are discussed in the State's individual entries. The non-state sovereign entity Order of Malta is not included. It claims neither Statehood nor any territory. Entities considered to be micronations are not included. It is often up to debate whether a micronation truly controls its claimed territory. Also omitted from this list are all uncontacted peoples, either who live in societies that cannot be defined as States or whose statuses as such are not definitively known.
 * 203 States recognised by at least one USK member state
 * Two States that satisfy the declarative theory of Statehood and are recognised only by non-USK member States: Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Transnistria
 * One state that satisfies the declarative theory of Statehood and is not recognised by any other state: Somaliland