The principle of sovereignty is fundamental in IR.

Sovereignty can be easily established as the authority over one’s existence. This can be applied to many cases, such as individuals, a community, or a nation-state. Here I’m going to talk about how the principle of sovereignty is fundamental in IR. Now let’s question this statement, what does it really mean? Sovereignty can be easily seen as supreme power or authority. This means that for instance, a nation is allowed to become a self-governing state, where it receives national sovereignty.

Going back to the question, what does it really mean when the principle of sovereignty is fundamental in International Relations (IR). There are simple principles of sovereignty. Political self-determination can be easily seen as for individuals, communities or national. Self-determination can be seen as “the ability of the people to govern them without the outside interference—the ability to make our own laws in response to our needs, and to reject laws which are neither needed nor wanted.” When a nation, so to say, is allowed to take over sovereignty, this country or nation should know its own consequences. Hereby I’m talking about taking responsibility and reliability. The country is supposed to be able to govern itself and not be affected by the outside. This means that responsibility and taking charge is key. Now lets talk about economic sovereignty. What does that really mean? We can see it as “the ability of the organism to control its own economy in response to its own needs.” This means that if the country has a growing economy it is responsible for it’s own demand and supply, in another case its own “needs”. This may be an example of keeping its own currency, trading with country, controlling imports and exports, and keeping track of taxes. Another principle can be seen as border control. The country should be responsible and educated about what leaves and enters the country, as they will be responsible for what they inject into the country. Border control can be an example of a green principle, where it strives for maintenance of sustainable population level, which protects its environment.

Sovereignty can also be seen as the independence to survive, and control it’s own country (as we’re speaking and taking note as nations). Food and water self-sufficiency is also determined in sovereignty. Not only is a nation required to get their own natural resources, but food and water sovereignty is the ability to provide these essentials, than being dependent on outside resources, which can be taken away any time. In another case energy independence is also a factor. Having a country in the 21^st century more and more is based on energy. In the world we live today, we need energy for transportation, light, cooking, living and everything possible. Think about the energy we use daily and multiply it for your whole population. THAT’S A HOLE LOT! A goal of a nation-state is always to read sovereignty to achieve energy independence. By that it won’t be able to depend on other countries to be their support system. When achieving energy independence a country does not have to depend on outside sources, they are able to develop their own energy. Self-defense or self-determination basically revolves around power and sovereignty is supreme power or authority, which is why it makes perfectly sense that self-defense and self-determination is a major factor. Sovereignty depends on power, an individual, community, nation needs to be able to defend itself. If it cannot, there’s no real sovereignty. A great example of this can be how Iraq is getting threatened. I mean, why not North Korea? This is merely because North Korea has the bomb. This is an example of sovereignty and being able to defend itself, which is one of the most significant aspects a country could ever have.  

Simply sovereignty is a very powerful in the 21^st century. Everyday we strive for independence and power. People grow up and educate kids in achieving sovereignty. In today’s world everything is about “competition” being “better than everyone”. In schools kids learn to get better grades and be better. Jobs are given to better people, rather than who really deserves it. These are examples why sovereignty is one of the most important issues in today’s world. International relations have been one of the main contributors to sovereignty. We do everything in achieving something, this is why this is so important. Thought sovereignty can be overlooked as something good, that’s not always the case. Sovereignty also creates gaps in humanity. Not only does it give us people a reason to judge and look at human kind as a competition, but it affects the way we spend our daily lives.

It’s practically obvious to say that sovereignty has been part of human nature since caveman’s time. We have just failed to recognize how it has been impacting our lives through the centuries. In today’s world, we are more understanding of our surroundings and more contempt with analyzing human nature. Every country, person, or community strives for sufficiency and independence, but not everyone is able to give that. This is why sovereignty has been a big part of our society. We live by the rules, and encourage competition. Every country is determined to be the wealthiest, protected, self-determined country. This is a great example of the US who strives to be the best in trade and power. This manages to give countries a strong nation and a threat free society from other countries.