THE CONCEPT OF SOVEREIGNTY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND LESSONS FOR NIGERIA

Project Abstract

<p> </p><div><p>New trends and innovations in modern communications and commerce</p><p>have dealt a great blow on the political boundaries of states otherwise</p><p>referred to as Sovereignty. Sovereign equality presupposes that each</p><p>state enjoys the rights inherent in full sovereignty. This seems to be the</p><p>basic principle of international law equally recognized by the United</p><p>Nations. Sovereignty is the central pillar of the contemporary international</p><p>system. No wonder, within the United Nations (UN) itself, sovereignty is</p><p>not regarded as an obstacle to the maintenance of peace or the protection</p><p>of human dignity.</p><p>The lowest common denominator envisaged by this opening</p><p>paragraph is that sovereignty is the basic principle of relations between</p><p>states thus promoting non intervention, sovereign equality, inviolability of</p><p>frontiers and the possibility of peaceful change. There is no doubt that,</p><p>while respect has been accorded independent states particularly in the</p><p>area of non intervention in their domestic affairs, new issues have</p><p>continued to emerge in international law and that is the area of human</p><p>rights protection. Thus human rights has made a significant impact on</p><p>international law.</p><div><p>7</p></div>&nbsp; vii</div><div><p>More recently, allegations of the possession of weapons of mass</p><p>destruction, protection of democracy amongst others have variously been</p><p>listed as grounds upon which the sovereignty of a state was tempered</p><p>with. These new issues have no closed category and have variously</p><p>threatened emerging states of its survival as this concept no longer</p><p>possesses the limitations which it earlier had. More also civil unrest’s and</p><p>factional fighting as in the case of Liberia, Si</p></div> <br><p></p>

Project Overview