| Vexillogical Directory of National State Flags |
| When studying the vexillology of nations, there are several questions that every vexillologist needs to ask, and once the answers have been reached they need to be kept in mind: |
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| 1. Is the flag representing a nation or a state? 2. Is the flag representative of all of the people that live in the nation or state or does it display the philosophy of a dominant national group, political entity, or religious system? 3. Is the flag a member of a flag family or is it a unique design? |
| Nation or State? |
| What is the difference between a nation and a state? Many people inaccurately refer to all sovereign political entities as "nations." Even the United Nations inadvertently made this error when choosing its name. However, what most people are referring to when they refer to nations are actually states. Technically, there is a difference between the two. Therefore, a definition distinction must be made between what is a nation and what is a state. A state is simply any political entity that enjoys sovereignty. Sovereignty implies that the state is independent and submits to no higher political authority or government other than its own. The people that reside within its boundaries are citizens of that state regardless of their ethnic, national, cultural, or religious identities. Nations, on the other hand, are groups of people who identify with a common trait or characteristic that separates them from other groups of people. These traits or characteristics may be defined by culture, religion, race, experiences, or any combination of these. The important thing that distinguishes a nation from a state is that not all nations have achieved political sovereignty as has a state. Those that have are grouped together as a "nation-state." Nations that have not acheived sovereignty have been incorporated into states that consist of several national groups. In such situations, it is desirable that all national groups within the state's boundaries enjoy political, social, and economic equality with the others. Often, though, this is not the case and one national group dominates the political system at the expense of the others. Turmoil and civil unrest inevitably is the result of this inequality. There are also instances throughout the world in which national groups are divided politically among several different states. Situations such as these may cause close cultural and political ties with the states that share such national groups, or they may bring about exactly the opposite. If a national group is the dominant group in one state but a severely oppressed minority in a neighboring state, the inequalities in the latter will cause the former to exert political pressure on its neighbor to relieve the oppressive situation. This can lead to open warfare between the two states. When studying flags, therefore, keep in mind the difference between states and nations. Remember that states are populated by nations, but nations may or may not be states. |
| Who or What Does the Flag Represent? |
| In some instances, the symbolisms displayed on flags extol purely political values that are relevant only to the states that fly them. They make no reference to national groups but speak only of the political values that support the authority of the state. More often than not, however, the symbolisms so displayed reflect the values of the national groups with which they are populated, or at the very least by the dominant national group within the state. When studying the flag of a particular state, one must be aware of the political system under which the state operates, the major national groups that dominate the society and culture of the state, the dominant religion of the state, and perhaps even important historical events that shaped the state's philosophy. One must discern whether the flag is representing only the state (and thus by extension all of its citizens regardless of their national differences), or if it is representing a dominant national group, perhaps at the expense of minority groups, or if it somehow (and rarely) blends the national values of many groups to be representative of all citizens of the state. |
| Is the Flag a Member of a Flag Family? |
| Many flag designs are based on those of predecessors. These predecessors are flags that perhaps once flew over a state or nation during a colonial period. It may be that their symbols and the values they represent are admired and adopted as values of the new entity designing the flag. A flag that serves as the basis for another flag or a group of flags, both in design and symbolism, is called an archivexillum. All of the flags that are descended from an original design, or which are adopted from an original design, are said to belong to a flag family. Flags belonging to the same family usually have similar charges and defacing that represent the same values or symbols. Often, flag families represent states that share similar cultural and national values. They all incorporate the same charges, such as crosses and other religious symbols. They also incorporate the same colors or combination of colors that portray similar cultural values or political philosophies. In order to distinguish one from the other, flags of the same flag family may be changed only by changing the placing of such emblems or changing the shades of the same colors, or even the proportion of the flag. Perhaps, a state seal or similar emblem is used to deface an archivexillum in order to create a local version of the flag that is unique to that state only. Regardless of how the flags of a family are designed to be unique and applicable to only one state, it is clear by their similarities that they represent the same values that tie each of the states that fly them together as well. |
| The National/State Flag Directory Map |
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