Sovereignty as a Problematic Conceptual Core

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary E. Shinko
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ◽  
John Locke ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Jean Bodin ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
Sovereign Authority ◽  
Philosophical Debates

The concept of sovereignty has been the subject of vigorous debate among scholars. Sovereignty presents the discipline of international law with a host of theoretical and material problems regarding what it, as a concept, signifies; how it relates to the power of the state; questions about its origins; and whether sovereignty is declining, being strengthened, or being reconfigured. The troublesome aspects of sovereignty can be analyzed in relation to constructivist, feminist, critical theory, and postmodern approaches to the concept. The most problematic aspects of sovereignty have to do with its relationship to the rise and power of the modern state, and how to link the state’s material reality to philosophical discussions about the concept of sovereignty. The paradoxical quandary located at the heart of sovereignty arises from the question of what establishes law as constitutive of sovereign authority absent the presumption or exercise of sovereign power. Philosophical debates over sovereignty have attempted to account for the evolving structures of the state while also attempting to legitimate these emergent forms of rule as represented in the writings of Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. These writers document attempts to grapple with the problem of legitimacy and the so-called “structural and ideological contradictions of the modern state.” International law finds itself grappling with ever more nuanced and contradictory views of sovereignty’s continued conceptual relevance, which are partially reflective and partially constitutive of an ever more complex and paradoxical world.

26. The Early Marx

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Human Essence ◽  
Ludwig Feuerbach ◽  
Short Biography ◽  
Social Creativity

This chapter examines Karl Marx's work prior to 1846, with particular emphasis on his concept of alienation. Although Marx borrows heavily from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and from Ludwig Feuerbach, his background in the philosophy and culture of ancient Greece is an important factor in his early essentialism. The early Marx rejects Hegel's theory that the state represents an ethical community. For Marx, communism is the movement of the exploited workers struggling to free themselves, and, in the process, liberate the whole of humanity so that they can freely develop their human essence of social creativity. After providing a short biography of Marx, this chapter considers his arguments about human essence and its alienation as well as his critique of the modern state. It concludes with an analysis of Marx's communist alternative.

State Theory, State Order, State System—Jus Gentium and the Constitution of Public Power

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nehal Bhuta
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
State Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
State System ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Theory State ◽  
Order State ◽  
The Way

This chapter argues that state concepts and state theories are performative: they partially constitute the object that they describe, and become means through which the state order is justified, materialized, and indeed organized. As such, state theory and state concept are indispensable to any actually existing state order, and have strong determinative consequences for the intellectual construction of international law as legal order and a system of relations between and across state orders. The chapter demonstrates the organizing force of state concepts on the conceptualization of the nature of the order of international law, and also the way in which jus naturae et jus gentium became essential to the theorization and reproduction of the distinctive kind of public power we associate with the modern state concept.

scholarly journals STATUS AGAMA DALAM KEHIDUPAN PUBLIK PERSPEKTIF HAM INTERNASIONAL

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Yudi Junadi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
The West ◽  
Transnational Movements ◽  
Current Wave ◽  
The World

Along with the rise of religious claims as one of the solid foundations for the grounding of Human Rights (HAM), the problems confronting humanity in relation to the presence of religion, in the contemporary era tend to escalate. The current wave of globalization has not only marginalized but rather provided an opportunity for the birth of various religious transnational movements that had not been predicted before. The conception of the modern state adopted by the West which was later referred to as a model for the construction of the state in various other parts of the world, was founded on the basis of secular values that transcended traditional solidarity, among which were national equality. Apart from the black stain that has been inscribed in history, especially in the field of freedom of thought, religion at this time can be said to have a positive contribution as a source of aspiration for the parties that are suppressed. Keywords : Globalization, Freedom of Religion, International Law, Human Rights.

scholarly journals Foreign Policy and International Relations of the Principality of Transylvania

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-268
Author(s):  
József Zoltán Fazakas
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
The State ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
State Recognition ◽  
International Recognition ◽  
Sovereign Authority ◽  
The Subject

The subject of the paper is the international relations and recognition of the Principality of Transylvania. International law requires the existence of three mandatory elements in order to recognize a state. These are territory, population, and sovereign authority over them. If we focus on the Transylvanian state, meeting these requirements will not represent an issue. The interesting question is the fourth but not additional criteria of statehood in international law, international recognition. Without international recognition, a state cannot act as part of the international community, and there will always be a collision between claims of sovereignty by other states. In Transylvanian history, this collision existed with the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empire. The essay shows that the independent Principality of Transylvania had the recognition of other states, also having regular foreign policy and diplomatic relations. To demonstrate this statement, the essay is built on three points and breaks down as follows: the evolution of the state from the Eastern Kingdom of Hungary until the Principality of Transylvania, the foreign policy of the Transylvanian state, its directions and orientations and the international relations of the Transylvanian state, with evidence of state recognition.

BERLAKU DAN KEABSAHAN PERJANJIAN INTERNASIONAL DALAM PANDANGAN HUKUM INTERNASIONAL

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-103
Author(s):  
Komang Sukaniasa
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
The State ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
International Rights ◽  
Legal Consequences ◽  
Made In

International agreements are agreements between international subjects that give rise to binding obligations in international rights, which can be bilateral or multilateral. Based on these opinions, an understanding can be taken that international treaties are agreements or agreements entered into by two or more countries as subjects of international law that aim to cause certain legal consequences. International agreements, whether ratified or through approval or acceptance or accession, or other methods that are permitted, have the same binding force as ratified international treaties established in the Ratification Law of International Treaties. Once again, it is equally valid and binding on the state. Therefore, the authors consider that the position of international treaties are not made in the form of the Ratification Act of the International Agreement but are binding and apply to Indonesia. Then Damos Dumoli Agusman argues that ratification originates from the conception of international treaty law which is interpreted as an act of confirmation from a country of the legal acts of its envoys or representatives who have signed an agreement as a sign of agreement to be bound by the agreement.

The Scope and Content of Section 75(1)(a) of the Zimbabwean Constitution: An International Law Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiedza Simbo
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Education System ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
The State ◽  
Education Act ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Basic Education System

Despite the recent enactment of the Zimbabwean Constitution which provides for the right to basic education, complaints, reminiscent of a failed basic education system, have marred the education system in Zimbabwe. Notwithstanding glaring violations of the right to basic education by the government, no person has taken the government to court for failure to comply with its section 75(1)(a) constitutional obligations, and neither has the government conceded any failures or wrongdoings. Two ultimate questions arise: Does the state know what compliance with section 75(1)(a) entails? And do the citizens know the scope and content of their rights as provided for by section 75(1)(a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe? Whilst it is progressive that the Education Act of Zimbabwe as amended in 2020 has addressed some aspects relating to section 75(1)(a) of the Constitution, it has still not provided an international law compliant scope and content of the right to basic education neither have any clarifications been provided by the courts. Using an international law approach, this article suggests what the scope and content of section 75(1)(a) might be.

Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Criminal Law Bill

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus D. Dubber
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Penal State ◽  
State 1

Part III of Dual Penal State uses dual penal state analysis to generate a comparative-historical account of American penality. With comparative glimpses at Germany and, to a lesser extent, England, it distinguishes between two responses to the shared challenge of legitimating state penal power in a modern liberal democratic state: (1) the failure to appreciate the legitimatory challenge of modern state penal power in particular (United States) and of modern state power in general (England); and (2) the failure to address the legitimatory challenge of modern state penal power as an ongoing existential threat to the legitimacy of the state (Germany). Chapter 6 undertakes a critical analysis of Jefferson’s 1779 draft of a criminal law bill for the State of Virginia, concluding that it fell well short of a criminal code that reflected the ideals of the American legal-political project as spelled out, for instance, in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence of 1776.

Confronting the Pathologies of International Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Linarelli ◽  
Margot E Salomon ◽  
Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory Of Justice

This chapter offers an argument on why the international law on trade, investment, and finance is subject to the demands of justice. It also looks at how those demands are greater than the basic minimums often suggested as applicable outside the state. International law is subject to the demands of justice because of its role as an institution essential to global cooperation, because it affects how people live their lives, because of its historic role in perpetuating and legitimizing moral wrongs, and because it can lead to domination and the deprivation of freedom. After elaborating these grounds, this chapter proceeds to a theory of justice for international law. International law must meet a standard of respect and ‘justification to’ each person, particularly those in weaker positions. International law cannot treat any person as only a passive recipient or supplicant to rules that benefit those in power or stronger positions.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurens van Apeldoorn ◽  
Robin Douglass
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Religious Thought ◽  
State 1

This volume investigates the complex and rich intersections between Thomas Hobbes’s political and religious thought. Hobbes is often credited with being one of the first great theorists of the modern state,1 but the state he theorized, as the title of his most famous work announces, was a commonwealth ecclesiastical and civil. One of the main goals of ...

Legitimacy

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Supranational Institutions

This collection brings together scholars of jurisprudence and political theory to probe the question of ‘legitimacy’. It offers discussions that interrogate the nature of legitimacy, how legitimacy is intertwined with notions of statehood, and how legitimacy reaches beyond the state into supranational institutions and international law. Chapter I considers benefit-based, merit-based, and will-based theories of state legitimacy. Chapter II examines the relationship between expertise and legitimate political authority. Chapter III attempts to make sense of John Rawls’s account of legitimacy in his later work. Chapter IV observes that state sovereignty persists, since no alternative is available, and that the success of the assortment of international organizations that challenge state sovereignty depends on their ability to attract loyalty. Chapter V argues that, to be complete, an account of a state’s legitimacy must evaluate not only its powers and its institutions, but also its officials. Chapter VI covers the rule of law and state legitimacy. Chapter VII considers the legitimation of the nation state in a post-national world. Chapter VIII contends that legitimacy beyond the state should be understood as a subject-conferred attribute of specific norms that generates no more than a duty to respect those norms. Chapter IX is a reply to critics of attempts to ground the legitimacy of suprastate institutions in constitutionalism. Chapter X examines Joseph Raz’s perfectionist liberalism. Chapter XI attempts to bring some order to debates about the legitimacy of international courts.

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