<P> Article 3 of the Montevideo Convention declares that political statehood is independent of recognition by other states, and the state is not prohibited from defending itself . In contrast, recognition is considered a requirement for statehood by the constitutive theory of statehood . An important part of the convention was Article 11 that prohibits using military force to gain sovereignty . </P> <P> A similar opinion about "the conditions on which an entity constitutes a state" is expressed by the European Economic Community Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee, which found that a state was defined by having a territory, a population, government, and capacity to enter into relations with other states . </P> <P> State practice relating to the recognition of states typically falls somewhere between the declaratory and constitutive approaches . International law does not require a state to recognise other states . Recognition is often withheld when a new state is seen as illegitimate or has come about in breach of international law . Almost universal non-recognition by the international community of Rhodesia and Northern Cyprus are good examples of this, the former only having been recognized by South Africa, and the latter only recognized by Turkey . In the case of Rhodesia, recognition was widely withheld when the white minority seized power and attempted to form a state along the lines of Apartheid South Africa, a move that the United Nations Security Council described as the creation of an "illegal racist minority régime". In the case of Northern Cyprus, recognition was withheld from a state created in Northern Cyprus . International law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence, and the recognition of a country is a political issue . As a result, Turkish Cypriots gained "observer status" in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and their representatives are elected in the Assembly of Northern Cyprus; and Northern Cyprus became an observer member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Economic Cooperation Organization . </P> <P> Most sovereign states are states de jure and de facto (i.e., they exist both in law and in reality). However, a state may be recognised only as a de jure state, in that it is recognised as being the legitimate government of a territory over which it has no actual control . For example, during the Second World War, governments - in - exile of a number of continental European states continued to enjoy diplomatic relations with the Allies, notwithstanding that their countries were under Nazi occupation . The PLO and Palestinian Authority claim that the State of Palestine is a sovereign state, a claim which has been recognised by most states, though the territory it claims is under the de facto control of Israel . Other entities may have de facto control over a territory but lack international recognition; these may be considered by the international community to be only de facto states . They are considered de jure states only according to their own law and by states that recognise them . For example, Somaliland is commonly considered to be such a state . For a list of entities that wish to be universally recognised as sovereign states, but do not have complete worldwide diplomatic recognition, see the list of states with limited recognition . </P>

What are the requirements to make a country