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How To Rule Your Own Country: The weird and wonderful world of micronations
Many people think they can do a better job running a country than politicians—but few actually give it a go. What happens when political disagreement pushes to the point of no return? When a person has a dream of what their ideal country would be, and then tries to create it? A place where there is no monarchy, or no taxes, or no government regulation… There are around 130 of these countries—better known as micronations—across the globe. One third of them are in Australia. Harry Hobbs and George Williams take us into some of the most prominent and fascinating micronations around the world, including the Principality of Hutt River, the Principality of Sealand, the Republic of Minerva, the Principality of New Utopia, and more. How to Rule Your Own Country is a lively account of the people who decide that ‘enough is enough’ and create their own nation.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
336 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2022
7 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
George Williams
328 books2 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 20, 2023
Informative and entertaining. I had no idea there were so many micronations. And so many of them in my own country (Australia). It's surely only a matter of time before one of them offers me citizenship and maybe a medal or two.
January 21, 2024
Trigger warnings: mentions of war
I've been intrigued by micronations since my high school history teacher told us about Hutt River Province back in, like, 1997. So I was really intrigued to pick this up and find out more about micronations in general, especially given that about a third of the world's micronations are in Australia.
For the most part, this was really intriguing! There are some fascinating similarities between micronations that have cropped up in every corner of the world, particularly where individuals or groups find themselves extremely frustrated by government inaction, whether it be in regards to taxation or wheat quotas or inaction on climate change or marriage equality.
Where this kind of lost me, however, was the discussion of micronations set up by fraudsters or by people who are just trying to take advantage of a situation for financial gain. The fraudsters were gross, yes, but I think the one I hated most was the white dude who finds out about a no man's land between Egypt and Sudan that neither country wants and decided to claim it for himself because EW.
Anyway, I could have done without the fraud chapter being the final chapter of the book, but on the whole this was fascinating and I'm really glad I picked it up.
I've been intrigued by micronations since my high school history teacher told us about Hutt River Province back in, like, 1997. So I was really intrigued to pick this up and find out more about micronations in general, especially given that about a third of the world's micronations are in Australia.
For the most part, this was really intriguing! There are some fascinating similarities between micronations that have cropped up in every corner of the world, particularly where individuals or groups find themselves extremely frustrated by government inaction, whether it be in regards to taxation or wheat quotas or inaction on climate change or marriage equality.
Where this kind of lost me, however, was the discussion of micronations set up by fraudsters or by people who are just trying to take advantage of a situation for financial gain. The fraudsters were gross, yes, but I think the one I hated most was the white dude who finds out about a no man's land between Egypt and Sudan that neither country wants and decided to claim it for himself because EW.
Anyway, I could have done without the fraud chapter being the final chapter of the book, but on the whole this was fascinating and I'm really glad I picked it up.
July 15, 2024
This could almost be a comedy (4 stars)
Authors Harry Hobbs and George Williams are Australian law experts, but don’t let that intimidate you. Their book "How To Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations" (2022) is quite different in tone from their previous book "Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty" (2021). That was more academic in character, while the more recent book makes the subject material accessible to the average reader.
While a work of non-fiction, the contents are at times comic and humorous, and read like a work of fiction. That's because the unique individuals who attempt to secede from an established country to establish their own nation tend to be larger-than-life personalities and their stories tend to be remarkable and even entertaining.
Over 100 such "nations" exist around the world, but as the authors observe, around a third of these ambitious secessionists can be found in Australia. That's because there's plenty of space in the land mass of Australia for its government to turn somewhat of a blind eye to such trouble-makers – as long as they still pay their taxes – and because Australian culture has a history of applauding the Ned Kelly larrikin spirit of rising up against the powers-that-be.
The authors explain that while it's one thing to declare independence and secession, the actions behind the establishment of micronations never have any legal clout, even if their leaders ascribe to themselves royalty and print their own postage stamps and passports. Such actions can certainly confuse other countries however, and they give plenty of amusing examples where this has happened. And the fact that they don’t have law on their sides, doesn’t stop the monarch pretenders from doing the things royal leaders do, like declaring war on their host nation, appointing overseas ambassadors, and making treaties.
Three such examples of micronations are given special attention with their own chapter in the book. The first is the fascinating story of the Hutt River Province in Western Australia, which was instituted in 1970 by the self-declared Prince Leonard (formerly just a wheat farmer), until its demise in 2021 when the tax office finally caught up with them. This entertaining account is followed by chapters about the Principality of Sealand, which occupied a decommissioned offshore platform in the North Sea, and the Republic of Minerva, which built an artificial island in the Minerva Reefs. Further chapters cover a variety of other micronations.
I found the varying reasons for establishing micronations particularly fascinating. In some instances they originated as a result of genuine frustration with government policies or economics. In other cases they served as quasi-protests related to environmental causes, or originated primarily as a political stunt. Some micronations have existed independently of any actual land, and yet others again were created purely as scams to defraud people.
This book tells the story of all of these and more, and includes pictures of some of their leaders, along with photos of coins, stamps, and more. There was even a micronations Olympics that ran alongside the official Olympics!
While not strictly an academic work, there are still plenty of footnotes to sources, and the material is clearly well-researched. But if you're looking for extensive details about the failed legalities behind declaring independent sovereign states, you may be disappointed. The authors don't see the need to bore us with legalese. But they do point out the glaring holes in the main arguments used by secessionist minded individuals, and explain how their claims are clearly false. Referring to the Magna Carta, or making vague claims that your host country is obliged to respect your sovereignty and your royalty just because you're an undefeated nation in war won't cut it. The sovereignty of none of these countries has ever been officially acknowledged, except in a few rare and brief instances by mistake.
For the most part in this book the authors just want to regale us with tales about the men behind these micronations, and to share their stories of success and failure. Inevitably, such stories have the feel of tall tales. The fact that they're true makes them all the more entertaining. I learned a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
Authors Harry Hobbs and George Williams are Australian law experts, but don’t let that intimidate you. Their book "How To Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations" (2022) is quite different in tone from their previous book "Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty" (2021). That was more academic in character, while the more recent book makes the subject material accessible to the average reader.
While a work of non-fiction, the contents are at times comic and humorous, and read like a work of fiction. That's because the unique individuals who attempt to secede from an established country to establish their own nation tend to be larger-than-life personalities and their stories tend to be remarkable and even entertaining.
Over 100 such "nations" exist around the world, but as the authors observe, around a third of these ambitious secessionists can be found in Australia. That's because there's plenty of space in the land mass of Australia for its government to turn somewhat of a blind eye to such trouble-makers – as long as they still pay their taxes – and because Australian culture has a history of applauding the Ned Kelly larrikin spirit of rising up against the powers-that-be.
The authors explain that while it's one thing to declare independence and secession, the actions behind the establishment of micronations never have any legal clout, even if their leaders ascribe to themselves royalty and print their own postage stamps and passports. Such actions can certainly confuse other countries however, and they give plenty of amusing examples where this has happened. And the fact that they don’t have law on their sides, doesn’t stop the monarch pretenders from doing the things royal leaders do, like declaring war on their host nation, appointing overseas ambassadors, and making treaties.
Three such examples of micronations are given special attention with their own chapter in the book. The first is the fascinating story of the Hutt River Province in Western Australia, which was instituted in 1970 by the self-declared Prince Leonard (formerly just a wheat farmer), until its demise in 2021 when the tax office finally caught up with them. This entertaining account is followed by chapters about the Principality of Sealand, which occupied a decommissioned offshore platform in the North Sea, and the Republic of Minerva, which built an artificial island in the Minerva Reefs. Further chapters cover a variety of other micronations.
I found the varying reasons for establishing micronations particularly fascinating. In some instances they originated as a result of genuine frustration with government policies or economics. In other cases they served as quasi-protests related to environmental causes, or originated primarily as a political stunt. Some micronations have existed independently of any actual land, and yet others again were created purely as scams to defraud people.
This book tells the story of all of these and more, and includes pictures of some of their leaders, along with photos of coins, stamps, and more. There was even a micronations Olympics that ran alongside the official Olympics!
While not strictly an academic work, there are still plenty of footnotes to sources, and the material is clearly well-researched. But if you're looking for extensive details about the failed legalities behind declaring independent sovereign states, you may be disappointed. The authors don't see the need to bore us with legalese. But they do point out the glaring holes in the main arguments used by secessionist minded individuals, and explain how their claims are clearly false. Referring to the Magna Carta, or making vague claims that your host country is obliged to respect your sovereignty and your royalty just because you're an undefeated nation in war won't cut it. The sovereignty of none of these countries has ever been officially acknowledged, except in a few rare and brief instances by mistake.
For the most part in this book the authors just want to regale us with tales about the men behind these micronations, and to share their stories of success and failure. Inevitably, such stories have the feel of tall tales. The fact that they're true makes them all the more entertaining. I learned a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
June 2, 2023
Great collection of stories covering a good range of different micronations. Entertaining from start to finish. Favourite stores are probably
- Sealand because Roy Bates sounds like an absolute nutcase
- Poyais for not giving a shit about dumping people in the middle of the jungle.
- Sealand because Roy Bates sounds like an absolute nutcase
- Poyais for not giving a shit about dumping people in the middle of the jungle.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews