a government is a sovereign member of the world community
Membership within the United Nations system divides the 206 listed states into three categories: 193 member states, 2 observer states, and 11 other states. The sovereignty dispute column indicates states whose sovereignty is undisputed (190 states) and states whose sovereignty is disputed (16 states, out of which there are 6 member states, 1 observer state and 9 other states).
List of sovereign states