successor states

Post-empire new countries

Successor states are the countries that emerge when an existing state breaks apart or dissolves.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and twelve other republics became its successor states.

The term implies inheritance—of territory, treaties, debts, and international obligations from the predecessor state.

The successor states of Yugoslavia spent years negotiating border disputes.

Related

borders · dissolution · iron curtain · alliances · currency reform · heritage · citizenship laws · minority rights · regional stability · identity · independence movements · power vacuums · ethnic groups · recognition · language preservation · territorial disputes · military conflicts · historical narratives

Opposites
temporal sequence in political dissolution

successor statesoriginal state

First form something takes

mother country · former state

direction of political transformation

successor statesfailed state

Ungovernable nation lacking authority

Family

successor, state, states, successors, succeed, succeeds, succeeded, succeeding, success

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