Sovereignity

Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme Political (e.g. legislative, judicial, and/or executive) Authority over a geographic region, group of people, or oneself.

The word has been documented in English since circa 1340, meaning ''preeminence'', and as rule (since 1378). It derives from Anglo-French ''sovereynete''e, from Old French souveraineté, from ''soverain'' ( Sovereign , itself from medieval Latin ''superanus'' which derives from classical Latin ''superus'' "superior" or "overness").

The source or origins of sovereignty (God or the people) must be distinguished from its exercise by branches of government.
In Democracies , Sovereignty is held by the people. This is known as Popular Sovereignty ; it it may be exercised directly, as in a Popular Assembly , or, more commonly, indirectly through the election of representatives to government. This is known as a Representative Democracy , a system of government currently used in most western nations and former colonies. Popular sovereignty also exists in other forms, such as in Constitutional Monarchies , usually identical in political reality as in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms. Systems of representative democracy can also be mixed with other methods of government, for instance the use of Referendums in many countries.

In another model, sovereignty is of an eternal origin, such as nature, or God, legitimating the Divine Right Of Kings in Absolute Monarchies or a Theocracy .

A more formal distinction is whether the law is held to be sovereign, which constitutes a true state of law: the letter of the law (if constitutionally correct) is applicable and enforceable, even when against the political will of the nation, as long as not formally changed following the constitutional procedure. Strictly speaking, any deviation from this principle constitutes a revolution or a coup d'état, regardless of the intentions.

In constitutional and international law, the concept of sovereignty also pertains to a government possessing full control over its own affairs within a territorial or geographical area or limit, and in certain context to various organs (such as courts of law) possessing legal jurisdiction in their own chief, rather than by mandate or under supervision. Determining whether a specific entity is sovereign is not an exact science, but often a matter of diplomatic dispute.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT OF SOVEREIGNTY

'' Basileus '' is the Greek Concept for "Sovereign", which designs whom detains the '' Auctoritas '', which is to be distinguished from simple '' Imperium '', detained by '' Archons '' (or " Magistrates ").

, it is Inalienable .

These characters would decisively shape the concept of sovereignty, which we can find again in the Social Contract theories, for example, in Rousseau 's (1712-1778) definition of Popular Sovereignty , which only differs on that the people is the legitimate sovereign. Likewise, it is inalienable - Rousseau condemned the distinction between the origin and the exercise of sovereignty, a distinction upon which Constitutional Monarchy or Representative Democracy are founded. Machiavelli , Hobbes , Locke and Montesquieu are also key figures of the unfolding of the concept of sovereignty.

Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) would then define sovereignty as "the power to decide the State Of Exception ", in an attempt, argues Giorgio Agamben , to counter Walter Benjamin 's theory of Violence as radically disjointed of law. Georges Bataille 's heterodox conception of sovereignty, which may be said an "anti-sovereignty", also inspired many thinkers, such as Jacques Derrida , Agamben or Jean-Luc Nancy .

DIFFERENT VIEWS OF SOVEREIGNTIES

There exist vastly differing views on the moral bases of sovereignty. These views translate into various bases for legal systems:

Partisans of the Divine Right Of Kings argue that the Monarch is sovereign by divine right, and not by the agreement of the people. This, pushed to its conclusion, may translate into a system of Absolute Monarchy .

Democracy is based on the concept of '' Popular Sovereignty ''. Representative Democracies permit (against Rousseau's thought) a transfer of the exercice of sovereignty from the people to the parliament or the government. Parliamentary Sovereignty refers to a representative democracy where the Parliament is, ultimately, the detenter of sovereignty, and not the executive power.

of '' The Ego And Its Own ''; Georges Bataille of a kind of "antisovereignty", as did Jacques Derrida put it. Therefore, anarchists join a classical conception of the individual as sovereign of himself, which forms the basis of Consciousness . The unified consciousness is sovereignty over one's own body, as did Nietzsche demonstrated (see also Pierre Klossowski 's book on ''Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle''). ''See also Self-ownership and Sovereignty Of The Individual ''.

Some supporters of Democratic Globalization consider that Nation-state s should yield some of their power to a World Government controlled by world citizens instead of being organized as now in an Intergovernmental basis.

The key element of sovereignty in the legalistic sense is that of exclusivity of Jurisdiction .

Specifically, when a decision is made by a sovereign entity, it cannot generally be overruled by a higher authority. Further, it is generally held that another legal element of sovereignty requires not only the legal right to exercise power, but the actual exercise of such power. ("No ''de jure'' sovereignty without ''de facto'' sovereignty.") In other words, neither claiming/being proclaimed Sovereign, ''nor'' merely exercising the power of a Sovereign is sufficient; sovereignty requires ''both'' elements.

TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY

Following the Thirty Years' War , a European religious conflict that embroiled much of the continent, the Peace Of Westphalia in 1648 established the notion of territorial sovereignty as a doctrine of noninterference in the affairs of other nations. The 1789 French Revolution shifted the possession of sovereignty from the sovereign ruler to the nation and its people.

SOVEREIGNTY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

In International Law , ''sovereignty'' is the exercise of power by a State . '' De Jure '' sovereignty is the legal right to do so; '' De Facto '' sovereignty is the ability in fact to do so (which becomes of special concern upon the failure of the usual expectation that ''de jure'' and ''de facto'' sovereignty exist at the place and time of concern, and rest in the same organization). Foreign governments ''recognize'' the sovereignty of a state over a territory, or refuse to do so.

For instance, in theory, both the People's Republic Of China and the Republic Of China considered themselves sovereign governments over the whole territory of Mainland China and Taiwan . Though some foreign governments recognize the Republic of China as the valid state, most now recognize the People's Republic of China. However, ''de facto'', the People's Republic of China exercises sovereign power over mainland China, while the Republic of China exercises its effective administration over Taiwan. Since Ambassador s are only exchanged between sovereign high parties, the countries recognizing the People's Republic often entertain ''de facto'' but not ''de jure'' diplomatic relationships with Taiwan by maintaining 'offices of representation', such as the American Institute In Taiwan , rather than embassies there.

SOVEREIGNTY AND FEDERALISM

In Federal Systems Of Government , such as that of the United States , ''sovereignty'' also refers to powers which a state government possesses independently of the federal government.

The question whether the individual states, particularly the so-called 'Confederate States' of the American Union remained sovereign became a matter of debate in the USA, especially in its first century of existence:

According to the theory of John C. Calhoun , the states had entered into an agreement from which they might withdraw if other parties broke the terms of agreement, and they remained sovereign. Calhoun contributed to the theoretical basis for acts of Secession , as occurred just before the American Civil War . However, Calhoun propounded this as part of a general theory of "nullification" , in which a state had the right to refuse to accept any Federal law that it found to be unconstitutional. These self-same southern states refused to accept that non-slave states had any such nullificatory right and insisted that the Federal government enforce the Fugitive Slave Act over any state's attempt to nullify it. However the premises of the Act was explicit in the Constitution, which required that all prisoners or slaves who escaped into other states, must be returned to their state of origin.

According to the theory expounded in the Federalist Party , each State, in ratifying the Constitution, was to be considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution was to be a federal, and not a national constitution (Federalist No. 39).

MISCELLANEOUS

Tribal Sovereignty refers to the right of Tribe s or of federally recognized American Indian nations to exercise limited jurisdiction within and sometimes beyond Reservation boundaries.

In some regions of the world, such as Quebec and Indian Kashmir , the word "sovereignty" has become the preferred synonym for national Independence (referring in this case to "national sovereignty" or the right of national Self-determination , as explicited by example in US President Wilson 's '' Fourteen Points '' - 1918). Compare the Māori term Rangatiratanga , and the concept of Self-determination .

The Holy See is recognized as sovereign subjects under international law (separate entity in international law vis-à-vis Vatican City , which has a very small amount of territory).

''The above are quotes from the 1911'' Encyclopædia Britannica .

A case ''sui generis'',though often contested, is the Sovereign Military Order Of Malta , the third sovereign mini-state based in an enclave in the Italian capital (since in 1869 the Palazzo di Malta and the Villa Malta receive Extraterritorial rights, in this way becoming the only "sovereign" territorial possessions of the modern Order), which is the last existing heir to one of several once militarily significant, Crusader State s of sovereign Military Order s; in 1607 its Grand masters were also made by the Holy Roman Emperor Reichsfürst (prince of Holy Roman Empire, granting a seat in the Reichstag, at the time the closest permenent equivalent to a UN-type general assembly; confirmed 1620), the sovereign rights never deposed, only the territories lost; several modern states still maintain full diplomatic relations (94) with the order (now de facto 'the most prestigious service club'), and the UN awarded it observer status.

SOVEREIGN AS A TITLE

In rare cases, the title sovereign is not just a generic term, but an actual (part of the) formal style of a Head Of State .

Thus from 22 June 1934 to 29 May 1953 (the title "Emperor of India" was dropped as of 15 August 1947 by retroactive proclamation dated 22 June 1948), the British Monarch was styled in the dominion of South Africa : "By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India and ''Sovereign'' in and over the Union of South Africa", only thereafter (to 31 May 1961) "Queen of South Africa and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth" parallel to the style in most realms.

The adjective form can also be used in a Monarch's full style, as in pre-imperial Russia, 16 January 1547 - 22 November 1721: ''Bozhiyeyu Milostiyu Velikiy/Velikaya Gosudar'/Gosudarynya Tsar'/Tsaritsa i Velikiy/Velikaya Knyaz'/Knyaginya N.N. vseya Rossiy Samodyerzhets'' "By the Grace of God Great '''Sovereign Tsar'''/Tsarina and Grand Prince/Princess, N.N., of All Russia, Autocrat"

TRIVIA

Sovereignty is the only word in the english language with the letters "g","n", and "t" appearing consecutively in that order.

SEE ALSO