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A rump state is the small leftover part of a once-big country. It happens when a country loses most of its land because of defeat in a war, a secession, an invasion, a colonization, or empire collapse. The government stays on its small remaining land instead of fleeing.
It retains its legal identity and continuity, meaning the government remains on home soil and keeps its institutional framework. This is the core difference between a rump state and a government-in-exile (which flees abroad when the entire country is invaded) or a successor state (a completely new nation formed from a split).
