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Micronations: For Those Who Are Tired of Existing Incompetent Governments and Are Longing for Something New and Refreshing
What is a Micro Nation? A micro nation can actually be referred to as new country project or a model country. The definition of a micro nation is thus "An entity that resembles a nation or a state, but which for the most part exists only on paper, on the Internet, or in the mind of its creator" Also referred to "Model countries and new country projects - are entities that claim to be independent nations or states but which are unrecognized by world governments or major international organizations" Different reasons exist why micro nations are created some being extremely serious whereas others are as a result of a hobby. There are however very genuine micro nations which are made of an entire community or tribe. These small entities almost always exist as replicas of real nations as opposed to existing states. We can therefore say that these are small nations with a small geographical area as well as populations. The term micro nation can also be used synonymously with the term Fifth nation which also refers to social identity groups. Compared to micronations are macronations which are significantly larger and enjoy some territorial recognition and these are referred to as Fourth world nations. You will find many secessionist or self determination groups counted among macronations. It is also very easy to confuse micronations with those tiny nations that are recognized legitimately. These geographically small counties include countries such as Monaco, Fiji and San Marino. Micronations should not be confused with legitimately recognized, but geographically tiny nations such as Fiji, Monaco, and San Marino, for which the term microstate is more accurate and descriptive. In this book you will read * Overview and introduction * Categories of Micronations
236 pages, Paperback
First published April 27, 2011
7 people want to read
About the author
Mohammad Bahareth
93 books55 followersMohammad Bahareth is a multi-award-winning Best-Selling Author, Dyslexia Advocate, Motivational Speaker, Startup Consultant, and Business Personality whose devotion and creativity have imparted him with the reputation as Saudi Arabia’s leading youth in innovation. As the author of over 50 books in two languages, his ultimate mission is to encourage, empower, and inspire people for generations to come. When it comes to his best-selling books, he ensures youth have a better future in Saudi Arabia. Dedicated to intellectual pursuits, he attended courses at HavardX, edx, LinkedIn learning, and Masterclass. He also offers his own courses on other platforms.
Mohammad’s various achievements and initiatives immediately caught the eye of Forbes Middle East. So far, he is one of the top 100 influential Twitter icons in 2011 and the recipient of the Wagensberg Award in 2019 and the Jeddah Award in 2022. He is also known for his empowering YouTube shows, The Fifth Power and iTek, making him one of the first YouTubers region-wide. Beyond the Middle East, he gave a TedTalk at TEDxJeddah about his learning disability, which was sponsored by HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Salman foundation known as MISK.
Dyslexia was the reason teachers and doctors didn’t believe in his abilities. In fact, a doctor once told him that he could never be a writer, and that if he wrote a book, it would be a miracle. However, he overcame their ableism and proved everyone wrong by becoming a world-renowned thought leader and prolific author. At the age of 11, he was armed with the unwavering determination to overcome his dyslexia. Exceeding teacher’s expectations, he started doing well in school, and his father took him to NASA as a reward. This relentless fortitude led to him writing hundreds of articles in local Arabic media and his blog. He also wrote dozens of books in both English and Arabic, some of which are registered in the Library of Congress. Moreover, he received a ranking by the Saudi Social Media Monitor (ELMAM), was awarded 6th place in Saudi Arabia in Writing & Blogging in 2013, and earned various other awards, including The Wagensberg Literary Award for his book Micronations. To this day, he has motivated thousands of people across the globe as a dynamic speaker. These endeavors led to being knighted by King Roman of Lithuania in 2019.
One of Mohammad’s most pivotal moments, however, was adapting the Sherlock Holmes Trilogy (the first book he ever read and the character that inspired him to overcome all the odds stacked up against him) into Arabic in a span of seven years. Not only did he pen the trilogy in its entirety, but he also obtained approval from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Estate to license the use of the character as the first Arab to receive this license.
Furthermore, Mohammad’s numerous bold initiatives have created a better future for Saudi Arabia and society as a whole. His Arabian Space Initiative promises to send the first Arabic text to the moon and Mars. His social initiatives like Allow Youth allows single men to attend shopping malls and restaurants on weekends, which was prohibited before. Environmentally conscious, he called for a ban on soda cans with a removable cover. He also serves as the President of Space Club and the Vice President of Inventors Club.
Currently, Mohammad Bahareth’s central focus is his Dyslexia Awareness initiative (www.Dyslexia.sa). He is advocating for dyslexic people to register with government authorities through medical reports to ensure they obtain optimal disability benefits that enhance and add value to their lives.
Mohammad’s various achievements and initiatives immediately caught the eye of Forbes Middle East. So far, he is one of the top 100 influential Twitter icons in 2011 and the recipient of the Wagensberg Award in 2019 and the Jeddah Award in 2022. He is also known for his empowering YouTube shows, The Fifth Power and iTek, making him one of the first YouTubers region-wide. Beyond the Middle East, he gave a TedTalk at TEDxJeddah about his learning disability, which was sponsored by HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Salman foundation known as MISK.
Dyslexia was the reason teachers and doctors didn’t believe in his abilities. In fact, a doctor once told him that he could never be a writer, and that if he wrote a book, it would be a miracle. However, he overcame their ableism and proved everyone wrong by becoming a world-renowned thought leader and prolific author. At the age of 11, he was armed with the unwavering determination to overcome his dyslexia. Exceeding teacher’s expectations, he started doing well in school, and his father took him to NASA as a reward. This relentless fortitude led to him writing hundreds of articles in local Arabic media and his blog. He also wrote dozens of books in both English and Arabic, some of which are registered in the Library of Congress. Moreover, he received a ranking by the Saudi Social Media Monitor (ELMAM), was awarded 6th place in Saudi Arabia in Writing & Blogging in 2013, and earned various other awards, including The Wagensberg Literary Award for his book Micronations. To this day, he has motivated thousands of people across the globe as a dynamic speaker. These endeavors led to being knighted by King Roman of Lithuania in 2019.
One of Mohammad’s most pivotal moments, however, was adapting the Sherlock Holmes Trilogy (the first book he ever read and the character that inspired him to overcome all the odds stacked up against him) into Arabic in a span of seven years. Not only did he pen the trilogy in its entirety, but he also obtained approval from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Estate to license the use of the character as the first Arab to receive this license.
Furthermore, Mohammad’s numerous bold initiatives have created a better future for Saudi Arabia and society as a whole. His Arabian Space Initiative promises to send the first Arabic text to the moon and Mars. His social initiatives like Allow Youth allows single men to attend shopping malls and restaurants on weekends, which was prohibited before. Environmentally conscious, he called for a ban on soda cans with a removable cover. He also serves as the President of Space Club and the Vice President of Inventors Club.
Currently, Mohammad Bahareth’s central focus is his Dyslexia Awareness initiative (www.Dyslexia.sa). He is advocating for dyslexic people to register with government authorities through medical reports to ensure they obtain optimal disability benefits that enhance and add value to their lives.
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September 29, 2024
It’s not widely known that Ernest Hemingway’s brother Les once built a bamboo raft off the coast of Jamaica and declared it a nation called New Atlantis. Actually only half the raft was New Atlantis because the other half, he believed, was a territory of the United States, Under the raft was a sandbar which Les Hemingway thought to have bat guano on it. Based on an obscure American law from the 19th century, any uninhabited island in international waters with bat guano could be claimed as American property. If that law isn’t batshit crazy than Les Hemingway certainly was for coming up with this scheme in the first place. It’s a good thing he didn’t try to liberate the American half in a war of independence because I don’t think that would have gone in his favor. He didn’t need to do that anyways because his raft and the nation of New Atalntis got blown away in a hurricane and ceased to exist.
Now if Les Hemingway was anything like his more famous brother, he might have been a lush. This is significant because I’ve nursed enough pints of Guiness in to know that if you hang around enough bars over the years, you will inevitably meet dozens of drunks on benders who will tell you what could be done to fix the country if only the right people would listen to them. Stoners aren’t any different only they’re more likely to lay around listening to Grateful Dead tapes while watching nature shows on TV with the sound turned down while they tell you what they’d do differently if they had their own country to run. Usually the legalization of drugs is the first and only idea they have If you’re getting doing bong hits with them, you probably aren’t listening anyway. What I’m really getting around to saying here is that every so often one of these guys gets up enough gumption to literally try to start their own micronation. Sometimes they succeed. Most of them fail. These days they mostly just end up on the internet. Mohammed Bahareth’s Micronations chronicles some of these attempts.
Like any good book of this sort, the author starts out by defining the concept of a micronation. There are people who declare themselves to be the king or leader of their own mini-state. Up until recently, many of them have laid claim to small pieces of land, empty islands, abandoned military towers, or boats anchored in international waters. Some of them don’t exist anywhere except in people’s heads or on websites. Some issue currencies, stamps, or passports and even go so far as composing their own national anthems, writing constitutions, and inventing their own languages. Most of them seek international recognition from other countries or the United Nations. It’s probably safe to say that most, if not all of them, are run by people who are completely nuts. The author would likely not agree with that last charge since he appears to be interested in founding his own micronation, although he doesn’t give any specific details in this book.
After Bahareth explains what micronations are, he explains what micronations are. Again. Nobody would argue that he isn’t an amateurish author. Then he proceeds to list and describe real micronations. Reading this is a trial at first since some of the entries at the beginning have nothing but geographical facts which were probably copied from Wikipedia. But the book gets more engaging in later chapters when he gives information about the history and ideologies that some micronations were founded on. The organization of the chapters is a little weird. One is about the strangest micronations and the following chapter is about the most famous micronations. But the two most famous micronations, The Principality of Sealand and The Republic of Minerva, are in the former chapter and I’ve never heard of the ones listed in the latter chapter so maybe the titles are out of order. I’ll give credit where it’s due though, because my favorite micronation of all, The Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland, gets one paragraph. Those guys claim their country exists in your mind and you enter their kingdom every time you fall asleep and dream. Now that’s some real psychedelia for you. I’d love to see how their parliament works.
While the beginning of the book is all about the shrimp sized sovereignties that exist, did exist, or tried to exist usually somewhere in the three dimensions of our physical universes, the ending of the book covers the tiny countries, bringing new meaning to the term “petit bourgeoisie”, that own no land and exist only as ideas or internet pages. This is where the meat of the matter really enters your mouth. I have no idea what that last sentence is supposed to mean, but I thought I’d throw it in there anyways. You see, a lot of these new micronations want to become officially recognized states. Some have claimed territories on Mars or distant comets, a few have laid claim to territories on Antarctica. Some want to build massive platforms on the ocean surfaces for seasteading ventures. Some wish to inhabit places where nobody in their right mind would want to live like New Jersey for instance. Also somebody has put together a United Nations for micronations and many of them seek recognition there as a first step to petitioning the real UN for acceptance. They even send mini-diplomats to micronation conventions. The next one is being held in 2025. For some of these people, this is all a big joke or an art project (same thing), but some take it quite seriously. At least, I think they take it as seriously as an internet role playing game can be taken and that’s what I think this latter grouping of tiny intentional communities mostly is. It seems like a hobby for those at the geekiest end of the nerd spectrum. On a more down to earth level, even if none of these people ever succeed in starting their own countries, I can see how this type of role playing game might inspire a political science scholar to come up with a plan or theory for improving the practice of governance in the real world. They say that when young children play house or cops and robbers they are actually preparing themselves for roles they might play when they get older (the kids who pretended to be robbers will probably go on to be businessmen and the kids who played doctor probably became perverts) and this micronation trip might just be a more sophisticated version of that.
This is not a well-written book. It’s published by a vanity press which is usually a good enough excuse to avoid reading something, but I am an aficionado of all things odd and obscure so I thought I’d give it a chance. The writing can be redundant to say the least. Sometimes one paragraph is repeated word for word following its first iteration. The layout is confusing and the organization of information doesn’t always make sense. It’s full of typos, misspellings, and bad grammar. But the author’s first language isn’t English and, according to his online biography, he is also dyslexic so I’ll cut him as much slack here as I possibly can. Besides he obviously has a passion for his subject matter and that enthusiasm shines through. If this isn’t a great book, at least it is unique and interesting. It may be best as a work of bathroom literature, but many people have to admit that they have some of their most philosophical inner dialogues while sitting solitary, taking a dump in the porcelain Republican party cranium (otherwise known as the toilet).
Mohammed Bahareth’s Micronations isn’t a widely read book and it isn’t destined to be. That’s why I’m happy to have read it and why it has a prominent place on my bookshelf which gets more crowded by the week. And to all you barflies, boozehounds, lounge lizards, saloon swillers, and barroom political scientists whose livers are pickled in gin and tonics who have had a few and start spilling out over the sides to whatever schmuck in unlucky enough to be occupying the stool next to you, if your topic of conversation is how great it would be if you could run your own country, or even just be king for a day, I propose a toast in your honor. Let’s all do a shot of hooch and a round of rotgut for everyone chased with a bottle of mad dog. You’re all invited when I take the oath of office as the first president of The People’s Republic of Mike Hunt, population of one.
Now if Les Hemingway was anything like his more famous brother, he might have been a lush. This is significant because I’ve nursed enough pints of Guiness in to know that if you hang around enough bars over the years, you will inevitably meet dozens of drunks on benders who will tell you what could be done to fix the country if only the right people would listen to them. Stoners aren’t any different only they’re more likely to lay around listening to Grateful Dead tapes while watching nature shows on TV with the sound turned down while they tell you what they’d do differently if they had their own country to run. Usually the legalization of drugs is the first and only idea they have If you’re getting doing bong hits with them, you probably aren’t listening anyway. What I’m really getting around to saying here is that every so often one of these guys gets up enough gumption to literally try to start their own micronation. Sometimes they succeed. Most of them fail. These days they mostly just end up on the internet. Mohammed Bahareth’s Micronations chronicles some of these attempts.
Like any good book of this sort, the author starts out by defining the concept of a micronation. There are people who declare themselves to be the king or leader of their own mini-state. Up until recently, many of them have laid claim to small pieces of land, empty islands, abandoned military towers, or boats anchored in international waters. Some of them don’t exist anywhere except in people’s heads or on websites. Some issue currencies, stamps, or passports and even go so far as composing their own national anthems, writing constitutions, and inventing their own languages. Most of them seek international recognition from other countries or the United Nations. It’s probably safe to say that most, if not all of them, are run by people who are completely nuts. The author would likely not agree with that last charge since he appears to be interested in founding his own micronation, although he doesn’t give any specific details in this book.
After Bahareth explains what micronations are, he explains what micronations are. Again. Nobody would argue that he isn’t an amateurish author. Then he proceeds to list and describe real micronations. Reading this is a trial at first since some of the entries at the beginning have nothing but geographical facts which were probably copied from Wikipedia. But the book gets more engaging in later chapters when he gives information about the history and ideologies that some micronations were founded on. The organization of the chapters is a little weird. One is about the strangest micronations and the following chapter is about the most famous micronations. But the two most famous micronations, The Principality of Sealand and The Republic of Minerva, are in the former chapter and I’ve never heard of the ones listed in the latter chapter so maybe the titles are out of order. I’ll give credit where it’s due though, because my favorite micronation of all, The Kingdom of Elgaland-Vargaland, gets one paragraph. Those guys claim their country exists in your mind and you enter their kingdom every time you fall asleep and dream. Now that’s some real psychedelia for you. I’d love to see how their parliament works.
While the beginning of the book is all about the shrimp sized sovereignties that exist, did exist, or tried to exist usually somewhere in the three dimensions of our physical universes, the ending of the book covers the tiny countries, bringing new meaning to the term “petit bourgeoisie”, that own no land and exist only as ideas or internet pages. This is where the meat of the matter really enters your mouth. I have no idea what that last sentence is supposed to mean, but I thought I’d throw it in there anyways. You see, a lot of these new micronations want to become officially recognized states. Some have claimed territories on Mars or distant comets, a few have laid claim to territories on Antarctica. Some want to build massive platforms on the ocean surfaces for seasteading ventures. Some wish to inhabit places where nobody in their right mind would want to live like New Jersey for instance. Also somebody has put together a United Nations for micronations and many of them seek recognition there as a first step to petitioning the real UN for acceptance. They even send mini-diplomats to micronation conventions. The next one is being held in 2025. For some of these people, this is all a big joke or an art project (same thing), but some take it quite seriously. At least, I think they take it as seriously as an internet role playing game can be taken and that’s what I think this latter grouping of tiny intentional communities mostly is. It seems like a hobby for those at the geekiest end of the nerd spectrum. On a more down to earth level, even if none of these people ever succeed in starting their own countries, I can see how this type of role playing game might inspire a political science scholar to come up with a plan or theory for improving the practice of governance in the real world. They say that when young children play house or cops and robbers they are actually preparing themselves for roles they might play when they get older (the kids who pretended to be robbers will probably go on to be businessmen and the kids who played doctor probably became perverts) and this micronation trip might just be a more sophisticated version of that.
This is not a well-written book. It’s published by a vanity press which is usually a good enough excuse to avoid reading something, but I am an aficionado of all things odd and obscure so I thought I’d give it a chance. The writing can be redundant to say the least. Sometimes one paragraph is repeated word for word following its first iteration. The layout is confusing and the organization of information doesn’t always make sense. It’s full of typos, misspellings, and bad grammar. But the author’s first language isn’t English and, according to his online biography, he is also dyslexic so I’ll cut him as much slack here as I possibly can. Besides he obviously has a passion for his subject matter and that enthusiasm shines through. If this isn’t a great book, at least it is unique and interesting. It may be best as a work of bathroom literature, but many people have to admit that they have some of their most philosophical inner dialogues while sitting solitary, taking a dump in the porcelain Republican party cranium (otherwise known as the toilet).
Mohammed Bahareth’s Micronations isn’t a widely read book and it isn’t destined to be. That’s why I’m happy to have read it and why it has a prominent place on my bookshelf which gets more crowded by the week. And to all you barflies, boozehounds, lounge lizards, saloon swillers, and barroom political scientists whose livers are pickled in gin and tonics who have had a few and start spilling out over the sides to whatever schmuck in unlucky enough to be occupying the stool next to you, if your topic of conversation is how great it would be if you could run your own country, or even just be king for a day, I propose a toast in your honor. Let’s all do a shot of hooch and a round of rotgut for everyone chased with a bottle of mad dog. You’re all invited when I take the oath of office as the first president of The People’s Republic of Mike Hunt, population of one.
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