For centuries,
the idea of sovereignty is shaped the world.
It has important domestic and international implications.
Within a country, sovereignty guarantees that governments
have the ultimate authority over what's going on.
This authority applies to everyone who lives within a country's borders.
And also whoever happens to be there internationally.
Sovereignty indicates a certain equality between countries,
no matter how big or richer country might be.
Sovereignty requires it to respect other countries borders
and to avoid using military force to change them.
This also means that if a small, impoverished country
passes a law or reflects a leader who is disliked by the government
of a large, wealthy country, the latter does not have the right to interfere,
although it can react as it sees fit,
for example, with sanctions or criticism.
There are limitations, though, to just how much
a government can dictate what happens within its borders.
For example, gross violations of human rights, genocide and ethnic cleansing
have come to be recognized by the governments of the world as unacceptable.
So when a
country violates protections that guarantee the safety of its people,
it risks forfeiting the rights that sovereignty grants,
like that promise of noninterference.
This is the understanding between countries
that has shaped and ordered the modern world
things weren't always organized this way.
400 years ago, wars raged between countries
in Europe over religion, politics and power.
The world was made up of a handful of empires and small kingdoms.
Religious and political authorities regularly
fought bloody conflicts over territory and authority.
Borders were not respected, and the world was often a free for all.
The concept of sovereignty
arose in the mid-17th century during a peace agreement after one
particularly destructive European conflict, the 30 Years War.
It was called the Peace of Westphalia,
and it ushered in a world of countries that respected one another's independence.
Today,
there are almost 200 countries in the world,
but outside of those there are a number of groups, territories
and even governments that advocate or fight for becoming their own country.
Not just anyone can claim sovereignty now, and there can be disagreements
as to what is considered a country and therefore eligible for this status.
There are no clear rules or procedures for deciding who gets to form
a sovereign country, and these efforts are often violent and prolonged.
Violations of sovereignty, disputes over what
constitutes a violation, happen from time to time.
Recent examples include Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean
Peninsula in 2014, Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Countries can also decide to give up
or delegate certain aspects of their sovereignty.
For example, many European countries choose to be a part of the European Union,
a group with many political and economic advantages.
However, joining meant following European Union rules
and allowing those rules to supersede national laws.
Throughout centuries, sovereignty has provided a central organizing
principle that is at the heart of modern international relations.
And it is a blueprint of many global institutions,
laws, and norms.
Overall, the world has become more peaceful, more stable,
and less deadly in the centuries since the establishment of sovereignty.
But while the concept of sovereignty can be clearly interpreting
its application in the real world, it's not always so straightforward,
especially in today's modern era.
What goes on inside a country can affect us all,
and it's not as simple as letting a country go about minding its own business.
Refugees, cyberspace, diseases, cash,
greenhouse gases, none adhere to lines on a map.
Are carbon dioxide emissions a violation of sovereignty?
There's an email across borders.
How does sovereignty respond to millions of refugees seeking safety?
But governments, economies, militaries and people
are far more interconnected now than they were in the 17th century.
The challenge moving forward is how this 400 year old concept
can evolve and adapt to confront modern issues the world faces today.