| nians and Freedonia is money. Prince John estimates that
the necessary construction would cost something on the order of $1 million. To this end, the country has begun minting currency in the form of silver coins. But the na- tions's coffers presently lack even teh funds to send John and his advisers to Somaliland for a fact-finding mission. Without a surprise benefactor, Freedonia appears unlikely to take physical form soon. But according to Daniel Partan, a law professor at Boston University, the scheme is at least plausible in theo- ry. No statute of international law explicity prohibits an ex- isting state from ceding territory to a start-up micronation. It's just that a huge gulf -- or maybe just a lack of firepow- er -- stands between calling yourself a country and being recognized as such by the international community. It's ironic that the same benevolent idealism that made Freedonia a successful micronation prevents it from com- manding any respect in reality. Or maybe it's only fitting. Then again, though, political history has time and again been altered by social experiments that once seemed like strange ideas. So if current fantasy states give way to an archipelago of private Idahos, you will owe your thanks to Prince John I -- and maybe your fealty, too. Andrew Weiner last wrote for the Phoenix
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