Micronations and Micronationalism

What do you guys think or know about micronations or micronationalism.

We will have to be careful with our comments as we do not want this to get shut down. There is a post on the Shades of Grey asking question about it and it got me thinking.

Why do people find this interesting?

FreeXenon said:

Why do people find this interesting?

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What is a micronation if not a campaign setting without RPG rules to play in it. Let those who like this sort of stuff learn about RPGs, and they should rapidly convert.

Sealand = a real life plot hook for a Shadowrun game

Very true to both of you.
It is interesting that they are apart of the process of creating and participating in a government? Why do you think that they do this instead of working towards other political goals within their respective macrocommunities?

Sometimes the political systems themselves are designed to be difficult to change. If you live somewhere without elections or where it's very difficult to become a candidate or vote, changing what you've got can be tough.

It might also be a case of just not having enough like minded people to make the change you want. In a mid-sized country, even if you had several thousand people on your side, you'd probably be well short of the millions you'd need to carry a national referendum or something like that.

I have no interest in micronations, but am quite interested in microbreweries!

FreeXenon said:

Why do you think that they do this instead of working towards other political goals within their respective macrocommunities?

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Being an armchair politician is far much easier than engaging in real politics. One can impose on the virtual nation his narrow and naive views on how he would run the country to make it better.

Interesting point.

How about those micronations that are serious about obtaining international recognition?

Why do nations define what marriage is an what benefit is derived from it?

How do you define marriage?

This is fascinating stuff. I wasn't particularly familiar with the concept before reading the shades of grey link.

It seems that a number of the more "serious" micronations are grounded in the concept that the territorial nation-state is becoming a anachronism and that people should be able to choose their citizenship status irrespective of geography. It's an interesting concept, but I think we're a long way from it establishing any grounded reality.

Too many of the functions providing by the territorial state and its subordinate local divisions are geography dependent. Nation-states impose laws in order to create physical living conditions amenable to the citizenry's values. It seems to me that some new structure or institution will have to be created to serve those functions.

Additionally, the role and value of a "micronation" will have to become a lot clearer. How does a worldwide political union of like-minded individuals create and execute policies that result in real-world, tangible lifestyle benefits for its citizenry? If it doesn't, if that's not its goal, then what is its goal, and what's my motivation for belonging to any nation?

Carl