A Brief Note on Sovereign State

A sovereign state is a country with borders that is inhabited by people and has a government that is capable of passing laws and having diplomatic discussions with other sovereign states. The people are obligated to obey the laws that are enacted by the government. The vast majority of sovereign states are recognised, which indicates that other sovereign states acknowledge their status as independent nations. When a sovereign state is recognised, it becomes much simpler for that state to communicate with other sovereign states and to sign agreements (treaties) with those other states. Today, there are hundreds of sovereign states that are recognised by the international community; for a list of sovereign states, see here.

State

There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes a state. In general, the things that a state must have are primarily political in nature, rather than legal. During World War I, the Czechs and the Poles were considered to be separate states, despite the fact that neither country had yet achieved statehood. L.C. Green provided an explanation for this by stating that “recognition of statehood is a matter of discretion, and it is open to any existing state to accept as a state any entity it wishes,” regardless of whether the entity in question possessed territory or an established government. 

This indicates that it is up to each existing state to decide whether to treat any other group as if it were a state. This acknowledgment may come across as overt or covert. When a state acts in this manner, it almost always indicates that the group will also be treated as a state for things that took place in the past. It does not always mean that the state is seeking to establish diplomatic relations with the other group, but there are times when it does.

Sovereignty

The concept of sovereignty, on the other hand, is frequently misunderstood.

According to Lassa Oppenheim, there is no concept whose interpretation is more contentious than that of sovereignty. There has never been a single interpretation of the term “sovereignty” that has been accepted universally since the first time it was used in political science until the present day. This is a fact that is uncontested.  “Sovereignty is neither a question of fact nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all,” according to Justice Evatt of the High Court of Australia. 

Even though the term “sovereignty” frequently refers to both ancient and modern forms of government, the modern state retains some connections to the form of government that was first observed in the 15th century. At that time, the term “state” also first meant what it does today. As a consequence of this, the term is typically reserved for use in reference to contemporary political systems.

Analogous Words

There is a distinction between a country, a nation, and a state, despite the fact that we frequently use these terms interchangeably as if they mean the same thing:

People who are thought to have similar origins, traditions, and histories are considered to be members of the same nation. Nevertheless, the terms “national” and “international” are used to describe aspects of what are exclusively the purview of sovereign states, such as “national capital” and “international law.”

A government and any other groups of people who support it that have sovereignty over an area of land and population together make up what is known as a state.

It is difficult to precisely define what a state is due to the fact that the meaning of words has evolved over time and that previous writers frequently used the term “state” in a variety of different contexts. Mikhail Bakunin used the word to refer to a governing organisation in its most basic sense. Other authors have used the word “state” to refer to any organisation that makes laws or that enforces laws. According to Karl Marx, the ruling class of a country exerts its power through the state in order to maintain its hold on power. 

Conclusion 

When a state acts in this manner, it almost always indicates that the group will also be treated as a state for things that took place in the past. It does not always mean that the state is seeking to establish diplomatic relations with the other group. According to Max Weber, the state is an organisation composed of the sole members of a given society who are authorised to engage in acts of physical violence.