Westphalian sovereignty

Westphalian sovereignty is the principle that states hold authority within their territories and are formally independent of one another. It is commonly associated with the settlement of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, though its historical origins are more complex.

State sovereignty: The principle that a state has supreme authority within its jurisdiction and independence in external affairs. Westphalian sovereignty is a historically influential formulation of this broader principle.
Peace of Westphalia: The 1648 agreements that ended the Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the Dutch Republic. Later accounts treated these settlements as the founding moment of a sovereign-state order.
Westphalian myth: The disputed historical narrative that the 1648 Peace of Westphalia created the modern system of sovereign states. It contrasts the principle's conventional origin story with historians' more complicated evidence.
United Nations Charter: The 1945 treaty establishing the United Nations and setting out its purposes, structure, and core rules. Its rules affirm sovereign equality and restrict force against another state's territorial integrity.
Territoriality: The organization of authority, identity, or activity in relation to bounded geographic areas. Westphalian sovereignty ties political authority to a state's bounded territory.
Thirty Years' War: A series of conflicts in Central Europe from 1618 to 1648, involving religious and political struggles. Its devastation shaped the negotiations later associated with Westphalian sovereignty.
Universal monarchy: The political ideal of placing multiple peoples or territories under a single supreme ruler. It opposes the principle's emphasis on independent states rather than overarching political authority.
Sovereign equality: The international-law principle that states have equal legal status despite differences in power or size. It translates formal independence into a foundational rule of the United Nations system.
Political authority: The recognized right to make and enforce collective decisions. The principle assigns each state governing authority within its own borders.
Holy Roman Empire: A Central European political formation that lasted from the Middle Ages until 1806. The 1648 settlement altered authority among the Empire's rulers and institutions.

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