Successor state

From Freepedia

A successor state is a state that takes over from a previously well-established state some or all of the territory and assets. As a term of international law, this concept is discussed under the succession of states theory.

In a broader context, successor state is applied where the international law concept would be at best anachronistic; for example in universal history or comparative history. Arnold J. Toynbee used it to describe the fragments of an empire (for him, a universal state), so that it could properly be applied both to the kingdoms set up by the generals of Alexander the Great after he died, and to Belarus as a contemporary successor state to the USSR. This usage is by now quite common, though not all obviously attributable to Toynbee and followers.