States

James Hollway

2019-07-15

Overview

The gnevar database holds 323 state actors, and 435 episodes of their entry and exit as agents in the international system.

Coding principles

For start/end dates

Usually, I have followed the principles of Gledisch and Ward (2013), except in those cases:

  • Declaration of independance: The guiding principle was the effective agency of the (new) state/sovereighnty episode. In some cases (e.g Costa Rica), I found that countries had effective sovereighnty even before the end date of the precedent alliance (in this case the Federal Republic of Central America). When I choose the declaration as a start date (few cases) it is specified in the comment section.
  • UN membership/recognition by the international community: I have never considered it to be the start date, especially since this can happen years after the effective independance and is somewhat arbitrary.

Start dates prior to 1816

Main idea here is to find a moment where a process of political sovereightny and a certain degree of centralization emerged, like the creation of an Empire/Sultanate/Kingdom. In some pre-colonial african polities we lack historical records; that is why I recorded an approximated year date that is commonly accepted in the literature as the start of the rise/centralization of a Kingdom. When I precised an episode in the comment section, it means that I choose this episode over others, because they appeared to me as saliant for the future development of the polity as it was (at least before colonization).

Capitals

Usually straightforward, except for some pre-colonial African states, where I have recorded different capitals (when possible to retrace) at different times since it usually changed with the ruler.

Ratification procedures

Different states have different ratification procedures, which may also differ depending on whether the type and topic of the agreement. The following is a structured overview of the ratification procedures in Austria, Chile, Colombia, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States, according to this document (perhaps outdated).