Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the authority of a political community or state to govern itself without subordination to another power. It includes control over internal affairs and independence in external relations.

Political authority: The recognized right to make and enforce collective decisions within a political community. Sovereignty is a claim to political authority at the highest level.
Westphalian sovereignty: A model of international order centered on territorial states’ independence and noninterference. It captures the familiar principle of sovereign equality between states.
Jean Bodin: A sixteenth-century French political thinker who developed an influential account of sovereign power. Bodin defined sovereignty as absolute and perpetual authority within a commonwealth.
Supranationalism: A form of cooperation in which states grant decision-making powers to institutions above the national level. Shared authority challenges the idea that states retain exclusive control over decisions.
Decolonization: The process by which colonies gained independence from imperial powers. Decolonization turned demands for sovereign self-rule into new independent states.
State: A political organization with institutions, a population, and authority over a territory. States are the principal holders of sovereignty in modern international law.
Non-intervention: The principle that states should not interfere in matters within another state’s domestic jurisdiction. Non-intervention protects the external independence associated with sovereignty.
Thomas Hobbes: An English philosopher whose political theory grounds sovereign authority in a social covenant. Hobbes argued that a powerful sovereign could secure peace from civil conflict.
Federalism: A system that divides governmental authority between a central government and constituent units. Federal arrangements complicate claims that sovereignty resides at only one level.
Self-determination: The right of peoples to determine their political status and pursue their development. It grounds many claims to sovereign statehood and political autonomy.

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