Political systems: what are the components of a state? States must be sovereign. A state that has sovereignty has independent legal authority over the population in a particular territory. States are political organizations that combine a permanent population with governing institutions to exercise control over a defined territory with international recognition. There are 195 countries in the world - the UN recognizes 193 member states and two non-member states (the Holy See & the States of Palestine). A nation is a group of people with commonalities including race, language, religion, political identity and aspirations. We examined the relationship between states & nations. A government consists of institutions that make public policy.