The atlas / Countries
Politics, put into practice.
From ancient empires to modern republics. Explore how states and regimes organize power, shape society, and engage with the world.
204 profiles
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- 20th & 21st centuries
Socialist Yugoslavia
A socialist federation led by Tito, Yugoslavia adopted workers' self-management and an independent path from Moscow, uniting diverse peoples under a single party until fragmenting into wars in the 1990s.
- Current states & regions
South Africa
A parliamentary republic, South Africa is the continent's largest industrial economy and a multiracial democracy born from the end of apartheid, marked by cultural diversity and deep social inequalities.
- Current states & regions
South Korea
An Asian presidential republic, South Korea combines a vibrant democracy, an export-oriented market economy, and technological leadership, the result of rapid development under strong state impetus.
- 20th & 21st centuries
Soviet Union (USSR)
The USSR was a one-party federation formed in 1922 and dissolved in 1991. For much of its history, centralized party rule and state economic planning were central institutions; it became one of the two main Cold War superpowers.
- Current states & regions
Spain
A parliamentary monarchy, Spain combines a consolidated democracy, strong decentralization into autonomous communities, a market economy, and social, progressive policies, with regional tensions such as the Catalan question.
- Antiquity
Sparta
Symbolic illustration
A militarist city-state of Ancient Greece, Sparta organized its whole society around war, with a mixed regime of kings and council, rigid discipline, austerity, and dominance over a vast subjugated population.
- Current states & regions
Sri Lanka
An island presidential republic in South Asia, Sri Lanka gives constitutional primacy to Buddhism, won the war against Tamil separatists in 2009, faced the 2022 debt crisis, and elected a left-wing coalition in 2024.
- Current states & regions
Sweden
A Nordic parliamentary monarchy, Sweden is a benchmark of social democracy, with a broad welfare state, high taxes, strong social equality, and an open, innovative market economy combined with progressive values.
- Early modern
Sweden-Finland
The kingdom of Sweden-Finland after the loss of empire: the Age of Liberty with a Riksdag of four estates, pioneering press freedom (1766), Gustav III's absolutist coup in 1772 and the loss of Finland to Russia in 1809.
- Early modern
Swedish Empire
A Lutheran Baltic power in the Thirty Years' War and the wars of Charles X and Charles XII, the Swedish Empire rested on a fiscal-military state, a monarchy with four estates and the Lutheran Church, until Poltava and Nystad.
- Current states & regions
Switzerland
A European federal confederation, Switzerland is known for its direct democracy, strong cantonal autonomy, historic neutrality, and a prosperous economy based on finance, precision industry, and institutional stability.
- Current states & regions
Syria
Under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria is in a transition begun after Assad’s fall, with a 2025 provisional constitution, reconstruction, and challenges of unity, security, and minority rights.
- Current states & regions
Taiwan
An island presidential republic, Taiwan is a vibrant democracy and global technology hub, especially semiconductors, living under constant military threat from China, and is Asia's pioneer in progressive causes such as marriage equality.
- Current states & regions
Texas (United States)
The second-largest US state, Texas stands out for its conservatism, its culture of strong individual freedom, low taxation, and a dynamic market economy tied to energy and industry.
- Current states & regions
Thailand
A constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia, Thailand alternates civilian governments and strong military influence, with a revered monarchy, predominant Buddhism, and a market economy geared toward tourism and exports.
- 20th & 21st centuries
Theocratic Tibet
A de facto independent state between the fall of the Qing and the Chinese invasion, Tibet was a Buddhist theocracy ruled by the Dalai Lama, with monasteries and aristocracy owning the land, peasants bound to it and deliberate isolation from the modern world.
- Early modern
Thirteen British Colonies
Historical flag illustration
British colonies on the North American Atlantic coast, with assemblies of white property owners, governors appointed by the Crown, established and dissenting churches, trade under the Navigation Acts, slavery in the South and expansion into Indigenous lands.
- Early modern
Tokugawa Japan
The Tokugawa shogunate pacified Japan after the Sengoku era with a feudal system of domains (bakuhan), a rigid four-class social hierarchy, official Neo-Confucianism, a ban on Christianity and external isolation (sakoku).
- Early modern
Tsarist Russian Empire
The Russian Empire under the Romanovs combined Orthodox Christianity, dynastic autocracy, territorial expansion, and imperial bureaucracy, with the Tsar as political head and defender of the official faith.
- Current states & regions
Turkey
A presidential republic between Europe and Asia, Turkey combines electoral democracy with strong concentration of power, nationalism, religious conservatism, and an assertive foreign policy in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
- Current states & regions
Ukraine
A semi-presidential republic in Eastern Europe, Ukraine is consolidating democracy, national identity, and closer ties to the West while resisting the Russian invasion, a struggle that dominates its politics, economy, and society.
- Current states & regions
United Arab Emirates
A federation of Gulf monarchies, the United Arab Emirates combines power concentrated in the royal families, a liberal economy diversified beyond oil, and strong bets on technology, tourism, and global finance.
- Current states & regions
United Kingdom
A constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. Parliament consists of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and Crown; government operates through the parliamentary system, while the monarch performs constitutional and representational duties. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have distinct devolved institutions.
- Current states & regions
United States
A federal republic whose Constitution distributes authority among Congress, the presidency, and federal courts, with checks and balances. State governments also hold constitutional powers. These institutions provide context for changing policies and political disagreements.
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