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Sovereignty

About: Sovereignty is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 25909 publications have been published within this topic receiving 410148 citations.


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Book
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: The subject of the first book as mentioned in this paper is the right of the strongest slave and the right to the strongest slavery that it is always necessary to go back to an original convention the social pact the sovereign the civil state.
Abstract: Book I: the subject of the first book the first societies the right of the strongest slavery that it is always necessary to go back to an original convention the social pact the sovereign the civil state. Book II: that sovereignty cannot be transfered that sovereignty cannot be divided whether the general will can err the limits of sovereign power the right of life and death the law the legislator the people the same continued the same continued the various systems of legislation the categories of law. Book III: government in general the constituent principle of the various forms of government the classification of governments democracy aristocracy monarchy mixed forms of government that not all forms of government are suitable for every country the signs of good government the abuse of government and its tendency to degenerate the death of the body politic how sovereign authority is maintained the same continued the same continued deputies or representatives that the institution of a government is not a contract the institution of government a means of preventing government from usurping power. Book IV: that the general will is indestructible voting elections the Roman "Comitia" the tribunate the office of dictator the office of censor the civil religion. Appendix: the general society of the human race.

84 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors assesses available information on the scale of the massacre, concluding that about 232,000 refugees were killed during the i996-7 war in Congo and argues that firmness in demanding justice and protecting human rights does not require ignoring the objectives of stability and prosperity for any country, but rather is the best way of promoting those goals and strengthening state sovereignty within the international community.
Abstract: The massacre of refugees during the i996-7 war in Congo illustrates the gap between existing legal standards and their application, as the principle of sovereignty rationalises states' behaviour against helpless people. This paper assesses available information on the scale of the massacre, concluding that about 232,000 refugees were killed. It argues that firmness in demanding justice and protecting human rights does not require ignoring the objectives of stability and prosperity for any country, but rather that it is the best way of promoting those goals and strengthening state sovereignty within the international community. To implement international law related to refugees will require making states and non-state players responsible for their actions to the international community, since any outflow of refugees creates negative externalities or costs that are unequally borne by this community.

84 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Smith and Stares as discussed by the authors examined the political and financial roles of diasporas in conflict and found that it is easier to mobilise emigrants to support the armed fight for the cause, especially where independence and the creation of a new state is the goal, than to work towards a more nebulous plan for peace within existing borders.
Abstract: Hazel Smith and Paul Stares (Eds) 2007 Diasporas in Conflict: Peace Makers or Peace Wreckers? United Nations University Press Tokyo ISBN 978-92-808-1140-7This is a fascinating collection of essays examining the political and financial roles, and thence, the international impact of diasporas (emigrants who have settled far from their original homelands, forming new localised ethnic communities) It is highly recommended for those who continue to focus on war as the exclusive concern of sovereign statesThe research project on which the book is based was jointly sponsored by the United Nations University and the United States Institute of Peace Each of the contributors, already known as experts in their field, was asked to answer the question "Was the particular diaspora you studied a peace-wrecker or a peace-maker?" Clearly, the sponsors hoped to find the balance tipping towards peace rather than conflict, but the detailed findings belie their hopes It repeatedly emerges that it is easier to mobilise emigrants to support the armed fight for the cause, especially where independence and the creation of a new state is the goal, than to work towards a more nebulous plan for peace within existing bordersThe book is arranged as a collection of thirteen chapters by different authors: three dealing with general issues relating to diasporas and conflict and ten detailing the conflict-related roles of the diasporas of Israel, Palestine, Armenia, Colombia, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Kurdish Iraq, Croatia, Eritrea and Cambodia They have in common a tapestry of intriguing stories of how real life politics are played out on a cross-continental stage In almost all cases it emerges that the role of the diasporas has been to verge more strongly towards war than peaceThe Croatian chapter, by Zlatko Skrbis of the University of Queensland, tries to present a nuanced case to the effect that overseas Croatians are all for peace- provided that this peace was with an independent state of Croatia However, the neutral reader would probably score the exiled Croats as 9 out of 10 on a bellicosity scale (including the Australian Croats) on the basis of the well-researched evidence presented by Skrbis himself Indeed, one issue that emerges is the understandable difficulty of finding a member of a given diaspora who can be balanced and neutral in writing about the actions of their fellow diaspora members Conversely, outsiders are frequently regarded with suspicion by the diaspora members Such outsiders tend to lack the passion to follow up in obscure ethnic newspapers and media on the endless minutiae which makes up 'the bigger picture' Often there is also a paucity of clear evidence about the roles which less high profile diasporas play In many cases, such as the Kurds and the Eritreans, it is not known how many members of the diaspora there are Even less has been documented of how much they have contributed in financial support to their fellow countrymen at home, or what proportion of such support has been devoted to the purchase of armaments …

84 citations

Book
11 Oct 1995
TL;DR: Fowler and Bunck as mentioned in this paper assess sovereignty as status and as power and examine the issue of what precisely constitutes a sovereign state, and they find that, despite frequent predictions of its imminent demise, the concept of sovereignty is alive and well as the twentieth century draws to a close.
Abstract: In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, it is timely to ask what continuing role, if any, the concept of sovereignty can and should play in the emerging "new world order." The aim of Law, Power, and the Sovereign State is both to counter the argument that the end of the sovereign state is close at hand and to bring scholarship on sovereignty into the post-Cold War era. The study assesses sovereignty as status and as power and examines the issue of what precisely constitutes a sovereign state. In determining how a political entity gains sovereignty, the authors introduce the requirements of de facto independence and de jure independence and explore the ambiguities inherent in each. They also examine the political process by which the international community formally confers sovereign status. Fowler and Bunck trace the continuing tension of the "chunk and basket" theories of sovereignty through the history of international sovereignty disputes and conclude by considering the usefulness of sovereignty as a concept in the future study and conduct of international affairs. They find that, despite frequent predictions of its imminent demise, the concept of sovereignty is alive and well as the twentieth century draws to a close.

84 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Dec 2001
TL;DR: Olarewaju et al. as mentioned in this paper argue that the capacity of a regime to preside over regime associates, much less control a specific territory, is increasingly either very weak or non-existent.
Abstract: Where do local power and authority lie in Africa when formal bureaucratic state institutions are either very weak or non-existent? At first glance, it seems that in Africa's worst-off states, places such as Nigeria, Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, rulers cannot control associates, much less shape societies and economies within their borders. “Some states,” writes Christopher Clapham (1996: 273), “have been so thoroughly privatized as to differ little from territories controlled by warlords.” In Nigeria, for example, private groups even collect taxes, generating complaints that state officials ally with armed brigands to extort money from citizens for purely private gain (Olarewaju 1998: 16). Misrule and politicians' failure to satisfy even minimal popular expectations can lead to the collapse of order. Internal sovereignty in parts of Africa, argues Robert Jackson (1993), in the sense of a capacity even to preside over regime associates, much less control a specific territory, is increasingly either very weak or non-existent. Jackson explains this weakening of internal control as being related to the growing unwillingness among officials in non-African states to give material assistance to help rulers compensate for weak bureaucracies. Proliferating insurgencies and the outright collapse of state order in Liberia, Somalia, Congo, and intermittently in Sierra Leone and Congo-Brazzaville appear to indicate a significant decline in external resources and internal capabilities available to rulers of weak states. This internal weakness calls into question the capacity of rulers to benefit from juridical, or external, recognition of nominal sovereignty.

84 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
20231,775
20223,691
2021802
20201,086
20191,042