The author's preface. What is State sovereignty?
A single scoundrel is enough to ruin the nation.
Napoleon Bonaparte
One great personality is enough to save the country.
Voltaire
Many extraordinary events have taken place lately in different parts of the world. The Arab Spring, the collapse of multiculturalism in Europe, youth riots in major European countries and the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement are just a few examples to mention. The world is changing rapidly. What is more, these changes are clearly not for the better. All those things that were clear, secure and solid yesterday are now becoming unstable. The international financial system is falling apart at the seams, and that can be seen with the naked eye. Just ten years ago those who would speak of the dollar crash or of the Euro-zone decay, would perhaps have been regarded as insane and would have been recommended to see a doctor. Now these matters are discussed night and day on all TV-channels. This news is on the front pages of newspapers.
Let us look at ordinary people. What should they think of these events? Should they applaud the victory of the opposition in the Arabic countries and the establishment of democracy there? Or rather worry about the defeat of government forces and growing instability? Should they sympathise with the youth riots in the developed countries or rather regard these young people as just having too much of a good thing? Or, maybe, they had better simply forget about all that and go to see a football game? But even there they will come across football fans, nationalists, tolerance issues and many other unpleasant things? And finally – consider the conspiracy theories about the end of the world and the aliens. So, what should they do? Let us look at it more closely.
And we should start with state sovereignty. Without this concept we will never grasp the essence of what is happening…
There are currently over two hundred states on Earth. These states are very different, just like human beings are. There are large and small ones, rich and poor ones, famous ones and completely unknown to the majority of the world's population. Among these nations there are those with advanced economies and those with decaying ones, those growing and those wasting away. Some die out, some grow older, and others are propagating vigorously and growing younger year by year. So, what is this factor that determines whether a nation is developing or stagnating?
Let us compare it with the factors, influencing the life of a human. Those are plenty: parents and upbringing, attitude of a person towards the things they are busy with, their love of learning. Health is important and even one's birthplace has certain significance. One cannot ignore friends, bad habits, luck. Happy or unhappy marriage plays its role, too. All in all, it is a mosaic of accidents that determines the life of a human being. And so, people live, get older and work following the waves of destiny. They pursue their goals. Or – which also happens – they sink to the very bottom.
But there is one sine qua non condition of the phenomenon called human happiness. It is not by chance, that I address happiness in this context, since it is happiness, which has to be the criterion of human existence; happiness, and not success, interpreted differently in different cultures. Human happiness presupposes autonomy. One has to make decisions by oneself; one has to carry responsibility for the consequences of those decisions. In the same way the 'happy life of the state requires this state to be autonomous. This self-determination of the state is called State Sovereignty.
State sovereignty means supremacy of the state within its borders as well as its autonomy in the international affairs.[1] State sovereignty is incompatible with any interference from the outside. A sovereign state is the one to decide for itself and to reap the fruits of these decisions. The country itself has to determine its path of development; the head of the country has to do things that are good for the country and that make the country prosperous. The power is sovereign only if this criterion is chosen as the basic one for defining of state policy – exactly as an adult is independent only if they are free to decide themselves about their family. It may happen that the benefits of certain decisions will not be immediate, and will not always be obvious; yet the criterion 'make it better' will always guide a normal person in actions concerning their family.
Is this not the case of modern states as well? Is this not the case that the statesmen of different countries are striving hammer and tongs for the sake of their countries? Is this not the case that while looking at the political map one sees a lot of independent countries that bravely move across the rough sea of politics and economics?
Alas, it is not; the reality is completely different. It is exactly the opposite. Nearly all countries of the modern world are forced to conduct policies that are very far from their national interests.
