European microstates

A European microstate or European ministate is a very small sovereign state in Europe. In modern usage, it typically refers to the six smallest states in Europe by area: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City. Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Vatican City are monarchies (Vatican City is an elective monarchy ruled by the Pope). These states trace their status back to the first millennium or the early second millennium except for Liechtenstein, created in the 18th century.

Microstates are small independent states recognised by larger states. According to the qualitative definition suggested by Zbigniew Dumieński (2014), microstates can also be viewed as "modern protected states, i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints."

In line with this definition, only Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino qualify as "microstates" as only these states are sovereignties functioning in close, but voluntary, association with their respective larger neighbours. Luxembourg, which is far larger than all these microstates combined, nonetheless shares some of these characteristics.

List of states often labelled as microstates

''These may or may not be considered microstates.''

Economic policies and relationship with the European Union

The European microstates are all of limited size and population. They also have limited natural resources. As a result, they often have adopted special economic policies, typically involving low levels of taxation and few restrictions on external financial investment. Malta is a full member of the European Union, while the other five European microstates have obtained special relations with the European Union and San Marino, Andorra and Monaco are part of the EU customs union while Liechtenstein is in a customs union with Switzerland.

Similar entities and definitions

What countries are microstates is not clearly defined. However, some institutions use specific definitions. Two institutions, the World Bank and the IMF, define them as states with a population of no more than 200,000. However, others have focused on area, not population. The larger microstates are less likely to be considered such, and while Malta may sometimes be considered one, it is not common to describe Iceland, Montenegro, or Luxembourg as microstates. These are more likely to be deemed a '' small state'', which has been defined as a state of fewer than 1.5 million people, though some go as high as several million if the state has limited land area.

The World Bank uses a threshold of 1.5 million people to describe a small state, and less than 200,000 for microstates.
Some researchers have suggested that a microstate has up to one million in population, and one as 1.5 million, but that is also used as threshold for small states, not microstates.On the Identification and Definition of Microstates By Archie Simpson vol. 74, no. 2, "Microstates and Small Island States in International Affairs" (Spring/Summer 2022)
/ref> The World Bank settled on 200 thousand for a microstate as does the IMF. A microstate has also been defined as less than the 100 thousand population.

A Czech study on microstates in the year 2000 defined three sizes of microstate and one subtype. The Czech definition focuses on land area, but also noted population:
# small microstates (0–100 km²),
# medium microstates (100–500 km²),
# large microstates (500–1000 km²),
with a fourth category for large microstate with a large population.

A paper in 2020 discussed the history of the smallest European states, and compared Malta and Cyprus to Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino. European Regions, 1870 – 2020 Chapter Cyprus, Malta and Microstates: Andorra, Lichtenstein, Monaco, San Marino First Online: 21 August 2021 pp 371–383
/ref>

Including both traditional microstates and small states in the European region yields several more examples, such as Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Montenegro.
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Dependencies and autonomous areas

While the microstates have sovereignty over their own territory, there are also a number of small autonomous territories, which, despite having (in almost all cases) their own independent government, executive branch, legislature, judiciary, police, and other trappings of independence, are nonetheless under the sovereignty of another state.

* Akrotiri and Dhekelia (British overseas territory)
* Ã…land (autonomous county of Finland)
* Bailiwick of Guernsey ( British crown dependency) a part of the Channel Islands, consisting of three separate sub-jurisdictions: Alderney, Guernsey, and Sark
* Bailiwick of Jersey (British crown dependency), a part of the Channel Islands
* Faroe Islands ( self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark)
* Gibraltar (British overseas territory)
* Isle of Man (British crown dependency)
* Mount Athos (autonomous monastic community in Greece)

Sovereign Military Order of Malta

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a Catholic lay order that is a sovereign entity under international law rather than a state.

Unlike the Holy See, which is sovereign over the Vatican City, the Order has no territory. However, its headquarters, located in Palazzo Malta and Villa Malta, are granted extraterritoriality by Italy, and the same status is recognised by Malta regarding its historical headquarters, located in Fort St Angelo. The Order is the direct successor to the medieval Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of Malta, and today operates as a largely charitable and ceremonial organisation.

It has permanent non-state observer status at the United Nations, has full diplomatic relations, including embassies, with 100 states, and is in more informal relationships with five others. It issues its own stamps, coins, passports, and license plates, and has its own army medical corps.

Historical small territories

The wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars caused the European map to be redrawn several times. A number of short-lived client republics were created, and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire gave sovereignty to each of its many surviving '' Kleinstaaten''. The situation was not stabilised until after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Following World War I and World War II a number of territories gained temporary status as international zones, protectorates or occupied territories. A few of them are mentioned here:

Historical dependencies

Several historical territorial dependencies and colonies have also formerly existed in Europe, under the sovereignty of another state or monarch. These include:

* Heligoland (colony of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890), an island off the coast of Germany (of which it is now part)
* Ada Kaleh (1878–1913) exclave of the Ottoman Empire comprising an island on the Danube omitted from the Congress of Berlin.

Culture and sports

* Association football club AS Monaco, though based in Monaco, plays in the French football league system. In contrast, Malta maintains its own league system with a 14-team top division.
* Some of the European microstates are members of the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE); several of the island dependencies compete in the Island Games, alongside several other island dependencies from elsewhere in the world. Countries that participate at the Games of the Small States of Europe are: Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro and San Marino.
* Monaco ( from 1959 to 1979 and 2004 to 2006), Malta ( since 1971), Andorra ( from 2004 to 2009), and San Marino ( debut in 2008, then from 2011 onwards) are or were contestant countries of Eurovision Song Contest.
* The San Marino national football team is the lowest-ranked FIFA-affiliated national football team, and is widely considered to be the worst association football team of all time.

See also

* Enclave and exclave
* Games of the Small States of Europe, a biannual sports competition

Notes

References

External links

Article from ''The Economist'', 24 December 2005, "Castles in the Air"

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