micronations are independent, often eccentric pseudo-countries, often referred to as "model countries" or "new world projects" that claim to be sovereign states but are unrecognized by world governments or major international organizations.

It is generally accepted that there are two branches of micronationalism: secessionism and simulationism.

The former is when a nation truly intends to try and "break away" from its parent country and be independently recognized, such as the nation of Liberland, the flag of which is displayed above. As yet no micronation has achieved independence. The latter is when a micronation exists solely for entertainment, educational purposes, or self-aggrandizement on the part of the person creating the nation, among other motives. One example of the latter is the Universal Triumvirate, among others.

more often than not, a micronation is held to be secessionist if it actually claims physical, real-world territory (regardless of how tongue-in-cheek this claim is) and simulationist if the micronation exists in and of itself, independent of land holdings, or if it claims extraterrestrial territory like the moon which it has no opportunity to actually exercise.