Quora Answer: Which Country Could Take Over Another Country in an Instant if They Wanted?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Which country could take over which country in an instant if they wanted?”

The structure of the international order is such that everything is in a state of finely balanced interests.  No country can easily take over another country in an instant; that is why these nations, even micronations, exist.  There is a political cost in aggression, and most nations are not willing to pay that cost.  Even in cases where we have micronations alongside larger ones, there may be other reasons why they exist.

For example, Monaco is the second-smallest sovereign nation in the world, after the Vatican.  It has its own government, but by treaty, defence is the responsibility of France.  France could take over it, and has ruled it before.  We can speculate why Monaco is independent beyond treaty, but the French gain benefits by having a tax-free enclave that is almost wholly encompassed by France, except for a tiny strip of the Mediterranean.  It is a convenient place for the wealthy elite to put their money, escaping the stringent tax regime of France.  The history of France, in the wake of the French Revolution, is that political power is ostensibly supposed to lie with the working class, and every French government is smart enough to pay lip service to this idea, until Macron.

As long as the French elite need a place to put their money, and launder it, they need Monaco.  It would make no sense for them to take it over.  Whatever they gain in a tiny slice of territory, they lose in tax evasion.  This is only one out of a multitude of reasons why many micronations and enclaves do exist.  They all serve greater political and financial interests than having just that tiny bit more territory.