Category: Concept Of Sovereignty In Political Theory

The Preamble to the Constitution of India declares India to be a ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’.40 Though the Constitution itself does not elaborate or define the meaning of ‘Sovereignty’, the Supreme Court in various pronouncements has sought to establish what it could mean or imply. In Gopalan Vs. State of Madras (1950) and Union of India Vs. Madan Gopal (1954), the Court held…

The types of sovereignty that we have mentioned above cannot sufficiently capture the nature of sovereignty in a colonial context. For example, British colonial rule in India enjoyed or arrogated for itself a special kind of hegemonic power. Colonial sovereignty by its very nature and political arrangements denied Indians the principle of popular sovereignty. Even…

As we have seen, the formulations of Bodin, Hobbes, Rousseau, Bentham and Austin have provided the logical and theoretical ground for strong sovereign and legislative supremacy within the State. Internal sovereignty is also based on the territorial concept. On the other hand, external sovereignty represents the power to represent the State in its relations with…

A situation may arise when actual sovereignty may pass on to someone/a body of men/an assembly which is able to make its will prevail whether it has legal status or not though formally sovereignty rests with another person or body or assembly. This situation may arise in revolutions, depositions from power or temporary coups. To…

The famous Declaration of the Rights of Man emerging from the French Revolution proclaimed the principle of national sovereignty affirming that ‘all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.’ It has been stated that this principle was invented to deny the old principle of the sovereignty of the monarch. Garner maintains that the Constitution of Belgium (Article 25), the 1923 Constitution…

The doctrine of political sovereignty stops short of assigning a philosophical basis of supremacy to the political community and remains a reluctant doctrine of popular sovereignty. Political sovereignty gives the electorate primacy while popular sovereignty attributes power to the masses/people. Popular sovereignty attributes sovereignty to the people or the community which has a ‘common consciousness…

The concept of political sovereignty has been put forward by the English constitutionalist, A. V. Dicey in his Law of the Constitution. He says that, ‘the body is politically sovereign, the will of which is ultimately obeyed by the citizens of the State.’34 Though the legal sovereign is the supreme law-making and law-enforcing body, behind this legal sovereign…

As we have noted previously, Bodin, Hobbes, Bentham and Austin conceptualized and formulated sovereignty in a legal sense. This refers to the legal and legislative supremacy of a person or a body of persons/legislature. Positive laws are commands of this person or body of persons, which carry legal sanctions behind it. In its legal sense, sovereignty…

As mentioned earlier, before Bodin gave a definite meaning to sovereignty as a specific element of the State, it was generally identified with the personal attribute of the monarch and its power. Not in the same sense but in a similar manner is sovereignty invoked to designate a king or a monarchical ruler who has…

As our survey of the historical development of the concept of sovereignty bears out, Bodin, Hobbes, Bentham and Austin are identified with the doctrine of ‘legal sovereignty’ while Althusius and Rousseau formulated doctrine of ‘popular sovereignty’. Similarly, Grotius introduced an important element by formulating the doctrine of ‘external sovereignty’. It may also be recalled how…