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Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 See also
- 3 External links
- 4 Footnotes
State sovereignty is a term that refers to the legal authority and responsibility of an independent state to govern and regulate its political affairs without foreign interference. Sovereign states have supreme authority over their territory.[1]
In federations, sovereignty belongs to the federal government. In confederations, sovereignty belongs to the independent states that choose to join the political arrangement.[2]
Background
Definitions of state sovereignty vary, but articulations of sovereign power dating back to the 1648 Peace of Westphalia have traditionally defined sovereignty in terms of a state's ability to regulate its own political affairs and enter into agreements with other sovereign states. The principles of Westphalian sovereignty also assumed the equality of all sovereign states, regardless of their relative power or size. Before the Peace of Westphalia, religious and ideological leaders such as the Pope often interfered with state political authority, consolidating sovereignty under one religious office.[3][4]
Similar definitions of sovereignty were also recognized in the establishment of the United Nations Charter in 1945, which stated that "the Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members." It also said, "Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter."[5]
Under the U.S. Constitution, individual states (like Florida or New York) cannot conduct international relations with sovereign countries (like France). U.S. states also lack other powers delegated to the national government.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Sovereignty," accessed July 29, 2021
- ↑ Diffen, "Confederation vs. Federation," accessed July 28, 2021
- ↑ Oxford Reference, "Westphalian state system," accessed February 27, 2022
- ↑ American Journal of International Law, "The Peace of Westphalia, 1648-1948," 1948
- ↑ United Nations, "United Nations Charter, Chapter I: Purposes and Principles," accessed February 27, 2022
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