國家的定義

1 蒙特維多公約第一條 「作為一個國際法所承認之國家應具備以下資格:⑴ 常住人口;⑵ 界定的領土;⑶ 政府.⑷ 與其他國家建立關係的能力.」   (接此看原文)
2 天主教梵諦岡第二屆大公會議文獻<論教會在現代世界牧職憲章>第四章、政治團體的生活、第74段指出「74.  國家是由私人、家庭及各式社團組成的。人們由於意識到自身力量不足 以充份保障人性尊嚴,而感到必須成立一個較大的團體、目的在於使每人在這團體內經常貢獻自己的精力,以照應公共福利。於是,成立了政體不同的各式政 府。所以政府是為了公共福利而存在的,公共福利是政府存在的理由和意義,政府 的基本權利亦是發源於公共福利的。而所謂公共福利,則包括:一切社會生活條件,使私人、家庭及社團可以比較圓滿而便利地成全自己。」
3 亞理斯多德 (Aristotle) 在他的 Book 1 第一段寫出 「Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good; for everyone always acts in order to obtain that which they think good. But if all communities aim at some good, the state or political community, which is the highest of all, and which embraces all the rest, aims at good in a greater degree than any other, and at the highest good.」
4 Wikipedia 之解釋 「A country is a political statenation, or controlled territory. It is often referred to as the land of an individual's birthresidence, or citizenship.」 (按此看原文)
5 The Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC) 界定為 「The SACC adopts a broad definition of 'country' that includes the following national entities: (1) Sovereign nation states (e.g. Australia, Indonesia, Philippines), (2) Administrative subdivisions within some sovereign states (e.g. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are devolved administrations of the United Kingdom), (3) External territories and dependencies (e.g. the Falkland Islands – a British overseas territory). These categories are discrete geographic areas with varying degrees of political and economic autonomy. In general, they are physically isolated from the country to which they are dependent. (4) Regions under disputed ownership or control (e.g. Western Sahara region of North Africa).」 (按此看原文)