Sovereignty

Introduction

Sovereignty is the soul of the state. It is the power that makes laws binding on everyone within the state and allows the state to act freely in international affairs. The concept developed in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, when monarchs asserted their supremacy over feudal lords and the church.

Definitions

• Jean Bodin (Six Books of the Commonwealth, 1576): sovereignty is the supreme power over citizens and subjects, unrestrained by law.
• Hugo Grotius: sovereignty is the supreme political power vested in him whose acts are not subject to any other and whose will cannot be overridden.
• John Austin: 'If a determinate human superior, not in the habit of obedience to a like superior, receives habitual obedience from the bulk of a given society, that determinate superior is sovereign in that society.'
• Thomas Hobbes placed absolute sovereignty in the ruler ('Leviathan') to whom people surrendered their rights for the sake of security.

Characteristics

• Absoluteness: there is no legal limit on the sovereign within the state.
• Permanence: sovereignty lasts as long as the state; it does not end when a ruler dies or a government changes.
• Universality (all-comprehensiveness): it applies to all persons and associations within the territory, with exceptions such as diplomatic immunity granted by the state itself.
• Exclusiveness: there can be only one sovereign in a state; two sovereigns would mean two states.
• Inalienability: the state cannot transfer its sovereignty without ceasing to be a state.
• Indivisibility: in the classical view sovereignty cannot be divided, although federations share powers between centre and units.

Kinds of sovereignty

• Legal sovereignty: the authority that makes final laws, recognized by the courts, such as parliament.
• Political sovereignty: the power behind the legal sovereign, usually the electorate or the people, whose will legal sovereigns ultimately follow.
• Popular sovereignty: the idea, associated with Rousseau, that ultimate authority rests with the people.
• De jure sovereignty: lawful authority recognized by law; de facto sovereignty: actual power, which may be held by someone without legal right, as after a coup.
• Internal and external sovereignty: supremacy within the state and independence from outside control.

Criticism (pluralist and modern views)

• Pluralists such as Harold Laski argued that sovereignty is shared with other associations, such as churches and trade unions, which also command loyalty.
• International law, treaties and organizations (UN, WTO, IMF) limit what states can do in practice.
• Globalization, multinational companies and regional unions such as the EU have reduced the practical independence of states.
• Human rights norms mean states cannot treat their citizens however they wish.

The Islamic concept of sovereignty

In Islam, sovereignty (hakimiyyah) belongs to Allah alone. Human beings are His vicegerents (khalifah) on earth, and political authority is a trust (amanah) to be exercised within the limits of the Quran and Sunnah, through consultation (shura), and for the welfare of the people.

• Allah is the real sovereign; the ruler and the people are trustees.
• Authority is limited by divine law and must be exercised justly.
• The people delegate authority to their rulers and can hold them accountable.

Sovereignty in Pakistan

The Objectives Resolution (1949), now Article 2A of the 1973 Constitution, declares: 'Sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone, and the authority to be exercised by the people of Pakistan within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust.' Thus Pakistan combines the Islamic concept of divine sovereignty with democratic exercise of authority by elected representatives.

Conclusion

Although globalization and international law have softened the classical idea of absolute sovereignty, it remains the defining feature of the state and the foundation of international order, which rests on the sovereign equality of states.