The legal criteria statehood are generally accepted as those set out in the Montevideo Convention (article 1) "The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." (The Montevideo is a regional American convention; but the principles contained in this article have been generally recognized as an accurate statement of customary international law.) However, some have questioned whether these criteria are sufficent.
A major issue is the difference between the constitutive and declarative theories of recognition of states. According to the constitutive theory, a state exists only insofar as it is recognized by other states. The declarative theory, by contrast, holds that the existence of a state is independent of its recognition by other states. Which theory is correct is a controversial issue in international law.
The word state can also refer to the political subdivisions of some states, such as the United States,Australia, Nigeria and India. Other states call these subdivisions provinces (Canada), or departments (France).