Introduction

The concept of sovereignty relates specifically to the concept of the State and may lose its essence without it. The state can be seen as an overarching political organization over a territorially demarcated political community. By virtue of this, the State gets a dominant position and tends to regulate various aspects of society, and other associations and organizations of political, social, economic and cultural nature. Understanding the position of the State in this way gets its reflection in understanding sovereignty in a particular way. Identifying sovereignty in terms of its characteristics like absoluteness or illimitability, universal or all-comprehensiveness, indivisibility, inalienability and permanence or perpetuity gives birth to the monist concept of sovereignty, which is based on legal supremacy of the sovereign. This is found in the writings of Bodin, Hobbes and Austin and to some extent, in Bentham. Rousseau’s concept of the General Will and popular sovereignty discussed can also be considered as contributing to the traditional concept of sovereignty in terms of its characteristics of absoluteness or illimitability, universal or all-comprehensiveness, indivisibility, inalienability and permanence or perpetuity.

Classical formulation in terms of the momst theory of sovereignty has been severely criticized. These critiques are an attack on the concept of sovereignty from different perspectives and dimensions and almost find refutation of the features enumerated previously. These broadly include: (i) denial of possibility of overarching sovereignty to the State in relations to other groups and to protect the rights of individual self development, (ii) the theory of limited sovereignty, and (iii) the denial of any sovereignty to the State. Some are directed as criticism of sovereignty and some as rejection of the State and its sovereignty. These various shades can be identified as follows:

• Pluralist critique
• Guild Socialist critique
• Syndicalist critique
• Anarchist critique
• Modern Individualist critique
• Marxist critique

In addition to these critiques, we have hosts of contemporary challenges the traditional concept of sovereignty faces. These emerge from the factors and processes like:

• Neo-colonialism
• Supra-national/actors and regional organizations
• International concerns like environmental issues, human rights, terrorism, nuclear issue, problem of refugees and migration
• Globalization
• Internal strife and external intervention