Scotland doesn't exist according to Barclaycard!!

adouglasmhor

The_One_Who wrote: »

Oh you are witty!

Country, state and nation are (wrongly) used interchangeably. Look up the differences.

I have - I also know the difference between State and state. So the GRO and the UK government are wrong but you are right?
Best you trundle down to Whitehall and put them straight.

The_One_Who

Yep, the government are always right about absolutely everything. Since the whole thing is rather complicated and there isn't really a word that defines what the constituent parts are it is easier to call them countries. However, geographically they aren't.

adouglasmhor

Yes they are, stop digging.

Or provide proper links like others have.

bingo_bango

The_One_Who wrote: »

Yep, the government are always right about absolutely everything. Since the whole thing is rather complicated and there isn't really a word that defines what the constituent parts are it is easier to call them countries. However, geographically they aren't.

Are we to take from that point that anywhere which has a border with another state/nation/country* can't be a country?

Blimey, the African nations won't be happy. Or the Americans. Or the Europeans..... Switzerland must be scratching their collective heads.




* choose whatever you want from this list. They are not interchangeable, and in your mind the answer will always be right.

The_One_Who

bingo_bango wrote: »

Are we to take from that point that anywhere which has a border with another state/nation/country* can't be a country?

No, of course not, and I'm not sure where you got that from. To be a country, the entity must have complete sovereignty over its people and its territory, something that Scotland does not have. It must also be externally recognised as a country, which again, Scotland is not. The UK's constituents are commonly called countries simply because there isn't really a word to define them, but in a technical geographical sense they are not countries.

The word State (capital S) can be interchanged with country. A State is a sovereign or independent government that has a set territory. Scotland, although it has a government, does not have sovereignty over its territory, only partially. I am aware of the differences between a state (small s), a nation, and a country and have already said that they are not interchangeable.

Bongedone

Well I never. Scotland is not a country and I thougt it was:

http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/a/scotlandnot.htm

shaun_from_Africa

To be a country, the entity must have To be a country, the entity must have complete sovereignty over its people and its territory

So how about all of the countries in the EU.
Name one Government that has "complete sovereignty over its people and its territory" and doesn't have to abide by laws imposed by the EU council.

adouglasmhor

I think some people are getting confused between a sovereign state and a country, was South Africa not a country before independence, how about India? Is Canada a country - the Queen is Head of State, same questions also for Australia and NZ?

The_One_Who

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

So how about all of the countries in the EU.
Name one Government that has "complete sovereignty over its people and its territory" and doesn't have to abide by laws imposed by the EU council.

That's not quite the same thing. The EU is a group of countries that have voluntarily come together. They aren't being ruled by something above them.

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I think some people are getting confused between a sovereign state and a country, was South Africa not a country before independence, how about India? Is Canada a country - the Queen is Head of State, same questions also for Australia and NZ?

The Queen is just a figurehead, she doesn't really have anything to do with the governing of those countries. Westminster (and therefore the UK) still plays a part in the governing of Scotland.

As far as I am aware, Greenland is in a similar situation to Scotland. It has it's own parliament which can govern on devolved issues, but it is not an independent country.

trukdiver

Bongedone wrote: »

Well I never. Scotland is not a country and I thougt it was:

http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/a/scotlandnot.htm

They are all different. Scotland was an independant sovereign state until the parliaments were merged in 1707. Even when they had the same king, they were separate kingdoms.

The territory called Wales has never had a separate unified existence - the name "Wales" comes from a Saxon word for foreigner! It was conquered by the Normans over a couple of hundred years, until the last principality in North Wales fell.

And Northern Ireland was invented as a political expedient.