aspirant state

plural aspirant states

1. A political entity which seeks to achieve international recognition as a sovereign state.

   1 more example

   By claiming that nuclear weapons are required for its security, a nuclear aspirant state can provoke a variety of responses among its neighbors and rivals which include, but are not limited to, forming a belief that the nuclear aspirant state is serious (or not), deciding to augment security capabilities, crafting a targeted non/counterproliferation policy, and so forth.

   2015, Thomas E. Doyle, II, The Ethics of Nuclear Weapons Dissemination: Moral Dilemmas of Aspiration, Avoidance and Prevention, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 13