Could the Clans be considered countries? By Plumeflake

Plumeflake determines whether the clans in Warriors could actually become nations or not.

We all know about the clans in Warriors. Small societies of cats that claim their own land and fight each other over it, have a strict hierarchy and a strong belief in their own religion, but could they be recognised by other nations as one of them?

Yes, I’m actually being serious. It’s possible.

According to the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (which was set out to distinguish what is a country and what isn’t), in order for a country to be recognised as legitimate, they must follow the legal criteria:
1. A permanent population
2. A defined territory
3. A government
4. A capacity to enter relation with other states.

Now, let’s go through each of these criteria and see if the clans apply to any of them:

1. A permanent population
This means that the nation or state must have a group of citizens or people (cats?) who live in and want to stay in that particular place to contribute to their society.

Do the clans have that? Yes, they do!
Well, sometimes cats leave their own clan to live in another clan for their own personal reasons, whether it be for a forbidden romance they’re involved in or they want to be with a family member in that clan. However, this is rare because most cats usually stay in the clan they were born in.

2. A defined territory
Each clan has their own territory with unique terrain and features relevant to their hunting skills, and in order to keep intruders from other clans and beyond out they mark the borders of their territory on a regular basis. The clan cats have only had to move to new land once due to human (twoleg?) disturbances, so they mostly try to stay in one place unless they have to do so because of natural disasters or other animals disrupting clan life. It’s a no-brainer, really.

3. A government
According to Wikipedia, a government is “the system or group of people governing (rule by right of authority) an organized community, often a state.
The clans do have this in the form of a strict hierarchy where Leaders are responsible for enforcing the Warrior Code (the clan law) that others of their clan must obey, being a representative of the clan in clan meetings and other occasions and – of course – leading the clan, like a world leader would. The leader is a name of authority in their respective clan, and they are responsible for everything that happens in their clan. The deputy is like a deputy Prime Minister, President or Chancellor that helps assist their Leader in decision-making, assigning hunting and border-marking patrols and taking responsibility for Leader tasks when the clan leader is sick.
The hierarchy is a system of authority and different roles, with Leaders (Self-explanatory, like world leaders), Deputies (Also obvious), Medicine cats (Medics and Doctors/Nurses) Warriors (Cats to protect and feed their clan, like hunters or soldiers), Apprentices (those training to become Warriors), kits (kittens or children) and Elders (older people or veterans).
Do the clans have a government or something like it? Yes.

4. A capacity to enter relation with other states
The last and final criteria. Now, can the clans do this?
Yes with each other, but with human nations, not so sure.
Warriors takes place in a land occupied by humans (Great Britain? America? A fictional island?) and the territory that each clan owns is part of another country. If the clans had the ability to communicate with humans in whatever way and knew what a country was, would they consider themselves one? Could the United Nations recognise five groups of cats as their own separate countries? The clans work very much like their own nations with each clan bearing their own unique identity and values, but if the cats could declare themselves a country, people would either not believe the fact about small countries of cats exist (because people hate things that are different to what they’re used to and able to understand), want to visit the clans really badly (I imagine the clans becoming a tourist destination, whether the cats want it or not) or think that they’re all ‘Micronations’ (a place that claims to be a legitimate and independent country but lacks recognition from world governments and organisations such as the United Nations) depending on the nature of humans (I think mostly one because people would think it’s all a joke, maybe also two because people would LOVE to visit a country full of cats) in their world. Clan members have the ability to work out relations with one another via debates and meetings (and the occasional battle over territory) so at least they can follow the criteria with their fellow clan cats.
These cats are anthropomorphic (human-like), but not developed enough to write, create art or speak human languages (possibly a level two in the four degrees of anthropomorphism from Pete Emsley,) so I can’t imagine them settling relations with humans.

Therefore, the clans do not fit all the criteria in order to be passed as their own separate nations.
Yet.
The clans have developed over time, and in some years or decades they could become smarter and human-like enough to become a civilisation and communicate with people.

Until then, it isn’t possible.

Besides, clans are considered ‘social groups’ (according to Wikipedia) which are distinct from microstates, micronations and of course countries.

Oh well, there goes the dream. A crazy dream, that is.