# What do you need to become a country? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138 "2003-02-06T04:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/21 "2003-02-06T11:32:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_007clone \* > **The idea I had originally in my head was 3 people. One was the ruler/king/president/whatever, the other two constituted the army. Their territory was an island in international waters. Let’s argue for the hell of it that the closest countries to the island considered it no threat to them and decided to recognize it’s borders. Could this be considered a country?** Ayup. It might be a podunk piece of nowhere, but it’s a soveriegn nation and well on its way to a generous foreign aid package and a seat on the UN Security Council. Currency, flags, and such are not needed. The ritzier joints like 'em, makes 'em feel big, but us cheapies gotta focus on the essentials: food, water, and having a big enough gat to frighten the natives. Assuming you gotta motorboat big enough to bring supplies from the mainland, you got the first two covered as long as the dough holds out. Maybe you work a deal with Kinko’s to create Official JayBeeLand Currency as a tourist gimmick. Weapons are pricey, though, and here you’re relying on the kindness of strangers. But I gotta say it: Three guys on an island alone? Not much chance for a second generation, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/22 "2003-02-06T11:35:48Z")
Forgot to add: The previous was courtesy of me channeling Philip Marlowe. No, I don’t know why. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/23 "2003-02-06T12:41:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > \*\*Semi-Hijack > > Just what prevents Microsoft from building a huge ship, anchoring in international waters, and declaring themselves a sovereign nation? I’ve long wondered why tzaibatsus don’t operate out of fleets of aircraft carriers. \*\* I imagine a US/UN trade embargo against microsoftia would be enough for them to agree that it wasn’t such a good idea after all. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/24 "2003-02-06T12:54:45Z")
[Cecil Adams’ take on it](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_300.html) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/25 "2003-02-06T15:17:38Z")
This thread was accidentally started twice. Both copies had useful responses, so I merged the two threads. ---
**Author:** ![Grievar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@Grievar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grievar)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/26 "2003-02-06T23:25:27Z")
I wonder if you could pick an out-of-the way spot in the atlantic and put a bunch of docks and boats of all sizes together and call it a nation. Get your own power plant and food source and voila. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_007clone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@jb\_007clone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_007clone)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/27 "2003-02-06T23:29:36Z")
It amazes me, I wonder why more people aren’t trying to do this? Who wouldn’t want their own country? ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/28 "2003-02-06T23:50:30Z")
What tax beneifits would you really get? You’d have to buy everything from somewhere else and thus be taxed. And since you can’t really “work” in a 1 man country where ever you did work would still take you income tax. I can’t see the tax loop hole (else I’d just “move” to a less taxed country like the US and still work in Canada) but I can see the appeal. “Hey baby, wanna come into my country and help create the next generation?” ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/29 "2003-02-07T00:00:20Z")
Michael Bates of Sealand actually responded to some questions I asked of him. I posted them in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=26809). It also links to several others on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/30 "2003-02-07T00:39:04Z")
So it actually boils down to finding land that you want to call your own and being able to defend it. Recognition would follow once any nation objecting to your nation building gets their ass kicked. Sounds like Israel…and the USA from more than 2 hundred years ago. Ergo, the size of your military forces would be proportional to the threat of your neighbors and inversely proportional to the number of allies you might be able to get. Having 4 or 5 willing women per man should fix the permanent population problem. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138/31 "2003-02-07T05:26:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jb\_007clone \* > \*\*Could someone in theory buy an island and get some mercs and call his land a country? \*\* When the **Segway** was announced there was a TV show about it and the inventor Dean Kamen. He invented that gizmo that stands next to a hospital bed and dispenses medication and the portable dialysis machine among other things. Anyway he flys his own helicopter and owns an island off of the Maine coast. The island has its own flag and name, but of course it is just some rich guy playing make-believe. ☹ [sup]I googled but couldn’t find a cite[/sup] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-need-to-become-a-country/153138.md?page=1)