I find words in the same category as "country", "nation", "state", etc are increasingly used interchangeably. Largely because they tend to be far more specific than people mean to be... but also because generic terms like "polity" never caught on in the mainstream. A similar thing is how "nation-states" would appear to be the only type of place worth worrying about highly organized attacks from in infosec, until you ask them to define what they consider a nation-state.

That said, I don't think it's accurate to paint Curaçao as just another normal Dutch island the same as any other. It's really a constituent country that's part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, just not a sovereign state or a nation.

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adastra22 a day ago | parent | next [-]

A nation-state is a state whose borders and (originally) citizenship are largely defined by a singular nationality. Israel and Japan, for example. Belgium and Canada are not nation states: they are split into French and Flemish, and Anglo and French nationalities, respectively.

It is a 19th century term that rarely applies these days, but still sees some residual usage.

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zamadatix a day ago | parent | next [-]

To complete the other half of the story for those not familiar: most all infosec references to "nation-state attack" instead use it to mean "government backed attack" (regardless if a nation-state is involved in the context).

	▲	1718627440 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		What if they use it to mean entities that are both states and nations, as opposed to the states, that some nations are composed of.

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cwillu 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Anglo, French _and Aboriginal_ nationalities. That's not a minor detail to exclude.

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kijin 21 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's hard to use them consistently because there isn't a single universally accepted definition.

Most people would consider the Netherlands a "country", but now we have a country within that country. Israel is a state, Japan is a state, but there are 50 states in the United States. "[People's] Republic of XYZ" generally refers to a sovereign state, but Russia has republics inside. You can't just call something what the locals call it and expect that your readers will get the picture. Even worse, people are often deeply divided as to what a given territory should be called.

So I will generally forgive journalists for picking a neutral-sounding, ambiguous expression in cases like this. What matters here is that the Dutch control this airspace, regardless of Curaçao's status within their kingdom.

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mr_toad a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Lots of small islands have similar status, for example The Cayman Islands, Bermuda & Puerto Rico.

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renewiltord 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm a state actor because I always remember my lines when I go up on stage.