What is the state?

The concept of state is ambiguous because several autors

Doctrina Estrada

International law allows classification of states according to their ability to act in international relations:

- Sovereign states: they are the states with full capacity to act, that is to say, that they can exercise all their capacities as a sovereign and independent state. [3] In this case, almost all the states of the world are found, and the vast majority are members of the UN.

States with limitations of sovereignty: they are states that have limitations in their ability to act for different reasons. Within this typology we can find:

- Neutral states: those who refrain from participating in international conflicts. This neutrality can be absolute neutrality due to a constitutional provision, as in the case of Switzerland and also of Sweden between 1807 and 1993 when it maintained absolute neutrality in international affairs. But there are also neutralized states, this is a neutrality imposed by an international treaty, a constitutional provision imposed or by international penalty, was the case of Austria, which in 1956, after the withdrawal of the occupying forces of France , The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union, drafted a constitution where it was arranged that Austria should be neutral with respect to the four signing powers.

- Sovereign states that resign to exercise their international competencies and are dependent on matters of international relations. It is usually the case of microestates that cede international relations to a third state, or around, or with which to maintain good relations. This is the case of San Marino, which entrusts international relations in Italy; That of Liechtenstein, which transfers them to Switzerland, or that of Monaco to France.

Associated free states: this is an independent state but in which another state assumes a part of its external competencies and other matters such as defense, economics or diplomatic and consular representation. This is the case with Puerto Rico regarding the United States.

Trustees: they are a kind of guarded state in a way similar to the mandates and protectorates of the League of Nations that protected or assumed the protection of a state as a precautionary or transitory measure in times of crisis. The trust status is a territory over which a trust or guardianship is established entrusting the administration to a fiduciary state under the supervision of the United Nations Trust Council. It was the case of the Federated States of Micronesia, which were supervised by the United States until 1986 or that of Papua New Guinea, which was administered by Australia until 1975.

- Sovereign states that are not internationally recognized: they are sovereign and independent states, but which, not being recognized by any other state, have a limited capacity to act. The lack of recognition may be due to an international sanction, at the expense of a third state (this is the case of the Greek opposition to the recognition of the Republic of Macedonia, and also that of Taiwan that is not recognized to avoid confrontations with the People's Republic of China, although it maintains a great international activity) or by disinterest (it is the case of Somaliland). Another case was the Bantustans between 1940 and 1994, only recognized by South Africa and rejected by the rest of the international community.