In Unified Era international law, a griefer state is a polity which pursues its narrow self-interest to the detriment of civilization as a whole. This includes such conduct as wars of aggression, pollution, and exploitative trade practices, any scenario where a nation can be considered as causing or exacerbating a collective action problem faced by the international community.
  Griefer states were a serious problem dating all the way back to ancient Terra, and little could be done about them in the nationalist age besides peer-pressure campaigns, as the doctrine of sovereignty forbade intervening for the good of civilization as a whole. One of the Stellar Compact's primary reasons for existence is to dismantle griefer states and prevent their rise.