AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN CONCEPT OF SOVEREIGNTY

Abstract

The ideas inherent in sovereignty have changed over time in phases phases and continued to do so up to today. These principles will continue to be re evaluated in light of new challenges and opportunities faced by individual states and the collective of states at the international level. The Treaty of Westphalia which marked the first phase in the development of the modern notions of sovereignty led to the establishment of the modern system of nation states, in which the sovereign reigned supreme domestically, as well as in its relations with other states. Using the doctrinal method of research, the paper discovered that before the end of World War II, states were basically operating in an international system premised on the ideas inherent in classical Westphalian doctrine and that the second phase in the development of the principle of sovereignty was ushered in by World War II and its conclusion in 1945. In this phase, the absolute power claimed by sovereign states came face to face with the creation of the Unite d Nations Organization and various Inter governmental bodies that espoused the idea of collective actions and state accountability to an international community. The paper concluded that the era of absolute rule ended with the creation of adoption of the various state consented supranational organizations geared toward predictability in the international system to potentially ensure the continued observance of international humanitarian law principles.