AN ATLAS OF COUNTRIES THAT DON'T EXIST

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

There are currently 195 countries in the world, or at least 195 countries that belong to the United Nations. That number includes observer countries Palestine and the Vatican, but doesn't include other countries like Taiwan or Kosovo. Clearly, the number of countries in the world is not as cut and dry and it would seem. Nick Middleton explores areas of the world which have declared themselves countries at one time or another which have not been widely recognized, as well as regions which have a strong separatist movement, in An Atlas of Countries that Don't Exist.

Following an introduction that discusses the definition of a country and borders, the book is organized continentally, beginning with Europe and running through the six populated continents before looking at non-existent countries "Elsewhere." Europe offers looks at places like the Isle of Man, Northern Cyprus, and Circassia, as well as lesser known ideas for countries like Christianiana. Each of the countries includes a map showing where it is located and a single page which sometimes gives a history of the independence movement and sometimes gives anecdotes about the area. The book rarely discusses the feasibility, politically, geographically, or logistically, of any of these countries making it on their own. Each subsequent section of the book repeats of the format, just with a different collection of countries on different continents.

Unfortunately, one page isn't enough to do justice to any of these potential countries. When Middleton discusses their history, he is providing useful information, but entries such as the one on Crimea, while they personalize the olight of these countries, don't really address the complexities of their existence or what their legal status means. What those entries do spotlight is that sometimes it may take more than one page to address the issues of statehood and the history of not only separatist movements, but also the counter claims and the reasons why they currently belong to a larger country.

Another issue Middleton often fails to address is the feasibility of success for any of these countries. There are very few microcountries these days and most of those are either exceedingly weather, like Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican, or Singapore, or subsisting at or below the poverty level, like Nauru, which only exists because of the largesse of Australia. Middleton doesn't discuss the economics of a place like the Cocos Islands, with a population of 500 or Cotaobato City, located on the Phillipines.

One of the strongest features of the book is the way it presents each entry although at the same time, this design decision resulted in less space to write about the potential countries. Each entry is four pages long. The first page provides the countries name, its flag, and a one sentence description of the country. The facing page offers the date(s) the country declared independence, the name of its capital, population, area, continent, and language. That page also has a cut out that allows the reader to see the shape of the country coming through from the fourth page of the entry, shown in isolation. Page three is comprised of Middleton's statements about the country and page for shows the country in relationship to its surroundings, usually a portion of a continent, sometimes, for smaller countries, of the surrounding country or even city.

While Middleton had an interesting idea for the book and the production values are first rate, the text doesn't support the volumes promise. Without a strong text that provides more than an outline, and a sometimes glib outline, the book hardly rates as more than a curiousity. It might lead to more questions and research, but a book like this should be prepared to offer more than merely questions that make the reader look elsewhere, it should offer up tje answers to those questions, even if not completely.

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