The Anglosphere is a group of English-speaking nations that share cultural or historical ties with England, and which today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone, though the nations that are commonly included were all once part of the British Empire. The definition is usually taken to include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States in a grouping of developed countries called the core Anglosphere. This term can also encompass Ireland and less frequently Malta and the Commonwealth Caribbean countries. Public opinion research has found that people in the five core Anglosphere countries consistently rank each other's countries as their country's most important allies in the world. Relations have traditionally been warm between Anglosphere countries, with bilateral partnerships such as those between Australia and New Zealand, the United States and Canada and the United States and the United Kingdom (the Special Relationship) constituting the most successful partnerships in the world. Definitions and variable geometry The term Anglosphere was first coined, but not explicitly defined, by the science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his book The Diamond Age, published in 1995. John Lloyd adopted the term in 2000 and defined it as including English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, and the British West Indies. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate". Core Anglosphere The five main ("core") countries in the Anglosphere (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) are developed countries that maintain close cultural and diplomatic links with one another. They are aligned under such military and security programmes as: ABCANZ Armies Air and Space Interoperability Council (air forces) AUSCANNZUKUS (navies) Border Five Combined Communications Electronics Board (communications electronics) Five Eyes (intelligence) Five Nations Passport Group Migration 5 The Technical Cooperation Program (technology and science) The UKUSA Agreement (signals intelligence). In terms of political systems, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have Charles III as head of state, form part of the Commonwealth of Nations and use the Westminster parliamentary system of government. Most of the core countries have first-past-the-post electoral systems, though Australia and