What Is a Country, Anyway?

Country. State. Nation. English has three different words for three closely related but distinct concepts. Chinese makes do with a single character, 國, pronounced "guo." And historically "guo" has been applied to very different entities: The various Warring States were called "guo," as were fiefdoms and duchies contained within the empire, as were distant foreign countries like Persia. Moreover, particularly in connection with the controversial contemporary question of what is and isn't par...