Sovereignty
In ancient Greek philosophy, Plato posits the concept of self-mastery as the ability to be one's own master. He outlines that unless individuals or groups govern their own pleasures and desires they will be enslaved and will not be free. This concept is understood by scholars as a fundamental moral freedom but also as a necessary condition of political freedom, and by extension the freedom and autonomy of the political structure.
John Locke shared a similar view that genuine liberty requires cognitive self-discipline and self-government, and that man's capacity for this is the source of all freedom. In this sense, freedom is not a possession but an action. Locke proposes that rationality is the key to liberty and true agency, and that political governance is enabled by the governing of one's own judgement. His political philosophy was a prominent influence on Immanuel Kant, and was later taken up in part by the Founding Fathers of the United States.
The nature of self-governance, that freedom relies upon self-regulation, was further explored by contemporary academics Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, William E. Connolly, and others.
A Self-Governance Region or Territory, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a group or individual to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of institution, such as family units, social groups, affinity groups, legal bodies, industry bodies, religions, and political entities of various degree.
A Special Administrative Region (SAR) or Area is one type of provincial-level administrative division directly under a Central Government, while possessing a high degree of administrative autonomy.
A Special Autonomous Region or Oblast is a section of a nation that has a degree of independence in several issues. An autonomous region has control over its affairs and has the freedom to make decisions independent of external oversight.
An autonomous administrative division is a subdivision or dependent territory of a country that has a degree of autonomy — self-administration and/or governance — from an external authority. Typically, it is either geographically distinct from the rest of the country or populated by a national minority.
A Special Economic Region or Zone is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increased trade balance, employment, increased investment, job creation and effective administration.
A Dependent Territory or Area is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state yet remains politically outside the controlling state's integral area.
A dependency is commonly distinguished from country subdivisions by not being considered to be an integral territory of the governing state. Administrative subdivisions instead are understood as typically representing a division of the state proper.
A dependent Territory conversely often maintains a great degree of autonomy from the controlling central state. Historically, most colonies were considered dependencies. Those dependent territories currently remaining generally maintain a very high degree of political autonomy. Not all autonomous entities, though, are considered to be dependencies, and not all dependencies are autonomous. Most inhabited dependent territories have their own ISO 3166 country codes.
Some political entities inhabit a special position guaranteed by international treaty or other agreement: creating a certain level of autonomy (e.g., differences in immigration rules). These are sometimes considered or at least grouped with dependencies, but are officially considered by their controlling states to be integral parts of the state.
Noteworthy that Autonomous Synonyms are: self-governing, independent, sovereign, self-reliant, self-directed. Antonyms: dependent, unfree.
Sovereignty on the other hand is the full right and power of a governing body over itself, without any interference from outside sources or bodies. In political theory, sovereignty is a substantive term designating supreme legitimate authority over some polity. In international law, sovereignty is the exercise of power by a state.
The concepts of sovereignty have been discussed throughout history, and are still actively debated. Its definition, concept, and application has changed throughout, especially during the Age of Enlightenment. The current notion of state sovereignty contains four aspects consisting of territory, population, authority and recognition. According to Stephen D. Krasner, the term could also be understood in four different ways:
- Domestic sovereignty – actual control over a state exercised by an authority organized within this state,
- Interdependence sovereignty – actual control of movement across state's borders, assuming the borders exist,
- International legal sovereignty – formal recognition by other sovereign states,
- Westphalian sovereignty – lack of other authority over state other than the domestic authority (examples of such other authorities could be a non-domestic church, a non-domestic political organization, or any other external agent).
Often, these four aspects all appear together, but this is not necessarily the case, they are not affected by one another, and there are historical examples of states that were non-sovereign in one aspect while at the same time being sovereign in another of these aspects. According to Immanuel Wallerstein, another fundamental feature of sovereignty is that it is a claim that must be recognized by others if it is to have any meaning:
“Sovereignty is more than anything else a matter of legitimacy requiring reciprocal recognition. Sovereignty is a hypothetical trade, in which two potentially conflicting sides, respecting de facto realities of power, exchange such recognition as their least costly strategy.”
An important factor of sovereignty is its degree of absoluteness. A key element of sovereignty in a legalistic sense is that of exclusivity of jurisdiction. De jure, or legal, sovereignty concerns the expressed and institutionally recognized right to exercise control over a territory.
Another topic is whether the law is held to be sovereign, that is, whether it is above political or other interference. Sovereign law constitutes a true state of law, meaning the letter of the law (if constitutionally correct) is applicable and enforceable, even when against the political will of the nation, as long as not formally changed following the constitutional procedure. Strictly speaking, any deviation from this principle constitutes a revolution or a coup d'état, regardless of the intentions.
Pluralistic Theory of Sovereignty has it that, pluralism is reaction against the absolutism of State, believing that State is a association like other associations. Thus the State cannot hold monopoly over the supreme power. The sovereignty should be divided among many associations.
De facto, or actual, sovereignty is concerned with whether control in fact exists. Cooperation and respect of the populace; control of resources in, or moved into, an area; means of enforcement and security; and ability to carry out various functions of state all represent measures of de facto sovereignty. When control is practiced predominantly by military or police force it is considered coercive sovereignty...
Food for thought!