Micronations aren't "real" nations, and that's a good thing!

 A frequent criticism of micronations is that we're "just playing" because we're "not real nations". Well, that's actually a good thing, in my opinion.

In order to explain why, I'm going to start with a quote from Belle of the Ranch (YouTube), who often states, "Nations don't have friends, they have interests." In other words, nations are always looking for a competitive advantage, and that drives who they ally with. Micronations, on the other hand, are not competing with each other (for the most part they don't have shared economies, they aren't claiming the same land, and they aren't competing for other resources, except maybe citizens), and therefore self-interest does not drive which other micronations they maintain relations with.

Thus, a micronation is free to choose its "friends" using any criteria it likes, including shared interests, shared beliefs, or even just shared experiences (such as MicroCon!). It's because of this that I've formed a number of good friendships through the micronational community - since I am not wondering what another micronational ruler is trying to gain from me, I don't have to second-guess every word and gesture in a conversation.

Of course, that's also why Slabovia doesn't bother signing "recognition treaties" with other micronations - there's no need for them in our view. Your micronation exists (in our eyes) from the moment you declare it, and it will continue to exist until it explicitly doesn't - i.e. you state (for whatever reason) that you're wrapping it up or subsuming it in another micronation or whatever. Arguably, your micronation continues to exist even after you've departed this world, as long as there's someone around to remember it.

A centrepiece of micronational flags
MicroCon 2019

Happy Declaration Day to Obscurium!

 I first met Zar Antonov, the President of Obscurium, in 2019 at MicroCon (yes, the one we hosted in Hamilton). He's a very interesting sort of person, and some of his ideas have inspired some of my own ideas, as often happens in the micronational community. And so, it is with the utmost respect and pride that I congratulate both Obscurium and President Antonov on their eight "Declaration Day", and I wish them many more to follow!

The flag of Obscurium
(Source: MicroWiki)

I'm here!

 First, a brief apology - between recent work travel (two days in Tijuana, teaching) and switching systems from my old desktop to a laptop, some things (including my social medial presence) have fallen a bit behind. I'm slowly getting back on track though! I'll have to do a better job of pre-queuing posts next time (although my planned return trip to Tijuana has been cancelled due to recent events down there, unfortunately).

Now, on to something a bit more fun! Wednesday this past week was my birthday, and I'm rather tickled by this, which was posted in the MicroCon 2027 Facebook group by the organizers of that event:

And yes, I am very much planning to be at MicroCon in San Diego next year! I'm already working on a presentation!

My slides from the DigiMicroSummit

 This past weekend, I gave a short talk on the topic of "Emergency Planning for Micronations". If a video is made available I'll link to it, but for now here's a link to the deck (PDF format) I presented. It's only intended to be a brief introduction to the topic given the 30 minute time allotment, but hopefully there's interesting and useful information for people. A video should be available soon as well.

This is from my MicroCon 2025 talk. I've only included
it because posts with pictures perform better.

Do you want to learn diplomacy?

 Last week, we talked about how MicroCon seems to suit the bill as a good venue for diplomacy. However, what if you can't get to MicroCon, or are not sure where/how to start with diplomacy? Not everyone is a born diplomat, after all! Well, as with so many things in the Internet age, there are online courses you can take for that! I'm sure this sort of post is why Google claims my blog is "low-content", since it's basically just a number of links leading elsewhere, but whatever. I've given up on them ever agreeing to let me actually make money off of ads here anyway.

A good place to start seems to be the US Institute for Peace, disregarding their recent "rebranding". They sponsor something called the "Ghandi-King Global Academy" which has self-paced courses that are both free of charge and open to the public. According to one online document I found, they offer courses such as "Introduction to Peacebuilding", "Nonviolent Action", "Conflict Analysis", and several courses in "Civil Resistance". I've signed up for an account but I'm currently waiting for approval. Oh, and for the mobile-device-inclined, they seem to have apps in both the Apple and Google app stores.

Alison also offers a number of free courses to help learn diplomacy, such as "International Relations", "An Introduction to Foreign Policy", and "Conflict Management: Resolving Conflicts with Confidence". 

I found this course on Coursera easily - "Global Diplomacy - Diplomacy in the Modern World", but I'm sure there's more. It has five modules, including "What is diplomacy?", "Success and Failure in Diplomacy", "The Qualities of a 'Good' Diplomat", "Diplomacy in Action", and "Reflections and Futures of Diplomacy". That seems like a pretty good first-glance treatment of the subject to me.

Finally, there are a bunch of United Nations bodies that offer online learning courses. There's a "meta-list" of the bodies (with links to each one's specific learning page) here.

Yalta Conference, 1945 - Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Micronational Diplomacy and MicroCon

"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock"
(Attributed to Will Rogers, among others)

Micronations are still nations of a sort, and where nations meet is the stuff of diplomacy (Will Rogers notwithstanding). Diplomacy is how international relations are managed, through means such as dialogue, negotiation, and communication, rather than by force or the threat of force. (Again, micronational war is dumb, and anyone who threatens or proposes it is also dumb.)

A lot of new micronations seem to think that diplomacy means signing treaties. There really isn't a point in signing treaties, though - treaties are generally focused on trade or mutual defense, but micronational trade is virtually nonexistent and micronational defense is sort of, well, pointless - see my previous comment about micronational war.

According to Saaida (2023), there are four core principles of diplomacy, including negotiation, communication, building relationships, and promoting interests. Saaida further states that these "serve as the foundation for effective diplomatic interactions."

Does MicroCon serve as a venue for fostering diplomatic relations? Using the four core principles of diplomacy outlined by Saaida (2023), I argue here that a strong case can be made that it does. (Note that I'm focusing on MicroCon since that's the event that I'm familiar with, but most similar events will bring similar attributes.)

The attendees of MicroCon 2025

First, we have negotiation. While MicroCon is not inherently a negotiating body, the face-to-face opportunities presented by MicroCon help to "put a face to a name", which is helpful in reaching agreement.

Next, we have communication. MicroCon facilitates communication in several ways, including the presentations and the socializing opportunities before and after the conference.

After that, we have building relationships. I can personally attest to the value of MicroCon in this regard, having formed multiple lasting friendships through this event.

Finally, we have promoting interests. Here, again, MicroCon offers multiple opportunities to do so, including doing a presentation on whatever your interest is as well as using your table display - every MicroCon since the first has provided space (usually a half-table's length) for displays. I've been lucky that at the last several MicroCon gatherings I've been able to have a separate display area for MEDALS, one of my own pet projects.

"Behind the scenes" - setting up the
MEDALS display at MicroCon 2025

So, in summary, I would argue that a micronation interested in diplomacy would do well to attend MicroCon (or similar events).

"So if you meet me, have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politeness
Or I'll lay your soul to waste"

(Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones - Lyrics by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard) 

References

Saaida, M. B. E. (2023). The Four Core Principles of Diplomacy. Science for All Publications, 1(1), 1-12. Link.