State Sovereignty and International Legal Discourse

Abstract

The post-Cold War era has witnessed renewed debates on the nature, function and meaning of state sovereignty. Phenomena like global capitalism, international governance and the fragmentation of states have given rise to claims that state sovereignty is “in decline”1 or even “diminished”.2 Others have argued that the institutionalization of human rights and humanitarian law should be regarded as a “move along a trajectory to global humanity”3 and as a “globalized discourse”.4 Yet others have questioned the analytical value of the concept of state sovereignty as such: the meaning of “sovereignty” would be so underdetermined that it can be used to justify or criticize almost any action. Globalization, international governance as well as the fragmentation and integration of states thus raise fundamental questions for international legal theory. The state is, after all, still widely regarded as the primary subject of international law, while the institution of state sovereignty is held to be one of the cornerstones of the international legal order. The aim of this chapter is to take up and discuss some of the above-mentioned challenges to the concept of state sovereignty and so to contribute to a better understanding of the meaning and function of state sovereignty in contemporary international law.