Sovereign state

A sovereign state is a state that has the highest authority over a territory.[1]

International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, a government not under another, and the capacity to interact with other states.[2]

It is commonly understood that a sovereign state is independent.[3] A sovereign state can exist without being recognized by other sovereign states such as Northern Cyprus.[4][5] Unrecognized states often have difficulty engaging in diplomatic relations with other sovereign states due to their lack of international recognition.[6][7] When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may also refer to a constituent country, or a dependent territory.[8][9][10]

  1. ^ Philpott, Daniel (1995). "Sovereignty: An Introduction and Brief History". Journal of International Affairs. 48 (2): 353–368. ISSN 0022-197X. JSTOR 24357595. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  2. ^ See the following:
    • Shaw, Malcolm Nathan (2003). International law. Cambridge University Press. p. 178. Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States, 1 lays down the most widely accepted formulation of the criteria of statehood in international law. It note that the state as an international person should possess the following qualifications: '(a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with other states'.
    • Jasentuliyana, Nandasiri, ed. (1995). Perspectives on international law. Kluwer Law International. p. 20. So far as States are concerned, the traditional definitions provided for in the Montevideo Convention remain generally accepted.
  3. ^ See the following:
    • Wheaton, Henry (1836). Elements of international law: with a sketch of the history of the science. Carey, Lea & Blanchard. p. 51. A sovereign state is generally defined to be any nation or people, whatever may be the form of its internal constitution, which governs itself independently of foreign powers.
    • "sovereign", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.), Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004, archived from the original on 7 October 2015, retrieved 21 February 2010, adj. 1. Self-governing; independent: a sovereign state.
    • "sovereign", The New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-517077-1, adjective ... [ attrib. ] (of a nation or state) fully independent and determining its own affairs.
    • Alain Pellet (1992). "The Opinions of the Badinter Arbitration Committee" (PDF). European Journal of International Law. 3 (1): 182. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2020. The Committee considers [...] that the state is commonly defined as a community which consists of a territory and a population subject to an organized political authority; that such a state is characterized by sovereignty; [...]
  4. ^ Thomas D. Grant, The recognition of states: law and practice in debate and evolution (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1999), chapter 1.
  5. ^ Lauterpacht, Hersch (2012). Recognition in International Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 64. ISBN 9781107609433. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  6. ^ Visoka, Gëzim (2022). "Statehood and recognition in world politics: Towards a critical research agenda". Cooperation and Conflict. 57 (2): 133–151. doi:10.1177/00108367211007876. ISSN 0010-8367.
  7. ^ Hoch, Tomáš (2018). "Legitimization of Statehood and its Impact on Foreign Policy in De Facto States: A Case Study of Abkhazia". Iran & the Caucasus. 22 (4). Brill: 382–407. ISSN 1609-8498. JSTOR 26626701. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  8. ^ Fowler, Michael Ross; Bunck, Julie Marie (1996). "What constitutes the sovereign state?". Review of International Studies. 22 (4). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 381–404. doi:10.1017/s0260210500118637. ISSN 0260-2105. S2CID 145809847.
  9. ^ "Countries Not in the United Nations 2024". World Population by Country 2024 (Live). 26 June 1945. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Recognition and its Variants". academic.oup.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.