A territory built by conquest in which one culture, one set of ideals
and one set of laws have been imposed by force or threat over diverse
nations by a civilian and military bureaucracy. States are ephemeral and
originate and disappear with the stroke of a pen (e.g. the end of the
U.S.S.R., December 25, 1991). In 1993 there existed 191 states.
(Examples: USA, Sudan, China, Spain, Nicaragua)