| |
A term which is used in a number of different ways, often causing confusion due to a failure to distinguish between these distinct usages.
The condition which makes a territorial entity eligible to participate fully in international relations (sense 2). It consists of constitutional independence; that is to say, the situation which exists when an entity\'s constitution is not contained, however loosely, within a wider constitutional scheme, but stands apart and alone. Thus the constituent states of a federal state do not enjoy this sort of sovereignty, no matter how large or powerful they are; nor does an internally self-governing colony. Sovereignty in this sense is a legal status which derives from the constitutional position of the entity concerned, and is both absolute (in that it is either possessed or not) and unitary (in that its internal and external implications are inextricably connected). Externally, sovereignty in this sense makes an entity eligible to participate in international relations, but the extent to which it does so depends upon its own inclinations and the extent to which other sovereign states are willing to have dealings with it. Thus, this sense of sovereignty is utterly basic for the practice and study of international relations in that it serves to identify the territorially based international actors, and hence the entities which engage in diplomacy (sense 1). See also equality of states.
The ensemble of legal rights which are central to a sovereign state\'s external and internal activity. Often called its sovereign rights, international law either (in respect of the state\'s external activity) bestows them on a state, or (in respect of the state\'s internal activity) places an obligation on other states not to intervene in the state\'s domestic affairs. Sovereign rights include (subject to any specific obligations the state has accepted to the contrary) the right to exercise jurisdiction throughout its territory, on its territorial sea, and in its air space (these matters often being referred to simply as the right of domestic jurisdiction); the right to self-defence; the capacity to enter into diplomatic relations (sense 1); and the capacity to make treaties. Sovereignty in this second sense is a consequence of sovereignty in the first, in that sovereign rights attach to those entities which enjoy sovereign status. The infringement of a sovereign right, however, has no bearing on the sovereign status of the entity concerned.
The extent to which a sovereign state is under no specific or general international obligations regarding its internal behaviour and decision making. In this sense its sovereignty consists of the degree to which it is legally free to conduct itself as it sees fit. Thus this concept of sovereignty is relative in nature. Sometimes it is called legal sovereignty. It is enormously difficult to measure; but it easily permits the comment that a state\'s sovereignty has been diminished by its acceptance of a specific obligation. Such an act has, of course, no effect on a state\'s sovereignty in the first sense. Indeed, such acts are a run-of-the-mill activity for sovereign states.
The extent to which a sovereign state is under no external pressures regarding any aspect of its behaviour. This concept also, therefore, is a relative one. Sometimes it is known as political sovereignty. As all states, large and small, are constantly aware of the factor of political constraint, all of them enjoy a less-than-full measure of this kind of sovereignty. But this in no way undermines state sovereignty in the first sense. For sovereign states the lack of complete political freedom is simply a fact of international life.
The power exercised by those who control a state\'s decision-making processes. Thus it might be said that a state\'s sovereignty is in the hands of the people, the cabinet, the supreme leader, or whoever - or, perhaps more accurately, some mixture of such elements. But who exercises sovereignty is quite distinct from whether or not an entity enjoys sovereignty (senses 1 and 2), or the extent to which an entity is sovereign (senses 3 and 4). |
|
