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In international politics, a territory is a non-sovereign geographic area which has come under the authority of another government; which has not been granted the powers of self-government normally devolved to secondary territorial divisions; or both.

Types of administrative and/or political territories include:

• Many types of legally administered territories, each of which is a non-sovereign geographic area that has come under the authority of another government with varying degrees of local governmental control.

• This can include federated states which share authority with a central government such as the Länder of Germany or the Counties of a state within one of the States of the United States (those states being another example themselves that were sovereign and ceded rights to a central federated government),

• or alternatively, a administrative district established by a central nation-state as with the Bundesländer of Austria (which are now a federation),

• or the subnational entities constituting a unitary state such as France.

For example, American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico are all territories of the government of the United States with varying local autonomy. Similarly, with regard to the Canadian provinces and territories, the major difference between a Canadian province and a Canadian territory is that the federal government has more direct control over the territories, while the provinces are run by provincial governments empowered by the constitution. The same distinction applies between States and territories of Australia. The former Crown colony of Hong Kong has became a British overseas territory since the British Nationality Act 1981 and has been referred as "territory" until the present.

• An occupied territory, which is a region that is under the military control of an outside power that has not annexed the region. An example of an occupied territory is Iraq after the American invasion of 2003, Afghanistan by the Soviet Union between 1979 and 1989, Germany after World War II or Kosovo after 1999.

• A disputed territory, which is a geographic area claimed by two or more rival governments. For example, the territory of Kashmir is claimed by both the governments of India and Pakistan.

• A local government unit. The district of the Chatham Islands Council is termed the Chatham Islands Territory, although it is in all legal senses an integral part of New Zealand.

• A claimed part of Antarctica.

• The 14 overseas territories and three Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom

See also

• List of special entities recognized by international treaty or agreement

References

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