Definition of Sovereignty

The definition of sovereignty tells us about the freedom of a people above all things.- We conceptually define Sovereignty as the right that a people or a nation has to be able to Choose their Government, also having interference in the Publication of Laws and the respecting them in what is known as National Territory, this being the jurisdiction of the same and the application of its different regulations.

Sovereignty, however, is not limited to the ability to decide on political matters but is extended to issues such as the possession of territory considered sovereign, the decision on economic issues that can be voted or plebiscited among all the people.

Also in cultural and ideological matters we can find the concept of sovereignty when we talk about a people that does not allow the entry of the famous globalizing invasion and defends its traditions and cultural phenomena. In other words, sovereignty is the ability of a people to decide on itself without allowing the interference of other peoples, rulers or alliances that may affect it.

Origin of the concept of sovereignty and thinkers who shaped it over time

This conception is born from the origin of Law, considering as such the exercise of laws, their application on a determined framework and the form of execution of the same, having as a necessity the Establishment of Sovereignty, being therefore derived the action of the Power that allows to give a role of Rights and Obligations for them. Here we can mention then that sovereignty is understood from the legal framework that a Constitution or set of laws gives a self-determined people to make decisions about their problems without any external agent intervening in them.

The classic definition made by Jean Bodin establishes as such the Perpetual and Absolute Power that a Republic possesses as a form of government, granting itself for a case the power to Make Decisions, in addition to being able to impart laws without depending on Foreign Laws created and promulgated by foreign bodies. to the nation, with the clear exception of Natural Law (also called Divine Law)

The first conceptions of sovereignty come from times long before Roman Law and even Canon Law, laying its foundations in the Middle Ages, in which three great powers were debated, which were the great Empires, the appearance of Feudal Lords and on the other hand the Church, having to a lesser extent the participation of Corporations that bid for the exercise of different regulations according to the rights where they sought the Exercise of Power.

Sovereignty during monarchy and sovereignty during democracy

Although we have mentioned the Republic as an example of a government that has its Sovereignty, it is also possible to find this concept in Absolute Monarchies, finding the King or Monarch as its exercise, being therefore treated under the name of Sovereign, considering itself even as a synonym for it.

In contrast to this, and through Suffrage as an exercise of the Democratic System, it is considered that sovereignty belongs precisely to the people, reinforcing this concept under the Universal Suffrage methodology and the laws that support and protect Democracy.

In either of the two cases, both in the monarchical and in the democratic form, sovereignty can be called into question when two nations or peoples go to war and this supposes the advance of one over the other, that is to say, the temporary annulment of the sovereignty of a people. In practice, societies are complex and difficult to control and it often happens that internationally recognized rights are not fully respected and the will of the majority breaks. This happens every time a nation decides to invade the territory of another nation, be it militarily, economically, or culturally.

In any of these cases we are talking about invasion and annulment of sovereignty, a serious problem that means the beginning of a war or tension between two countries. Although internationally these attitudes are often condemned, the reality is that they are part of the very complexity of the human being and we should be able to establish frameworks of respect for international laws that seek the pre-eminence of the sovereignty of all the territories of the planet.

Images: iStock. Katarzyna Bialasiewicz / Eduardo Luzzatti

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