The Concept and Types of Sovereignty

The term "sovereignty" in relation to the state was first used by Jean Bodin (France, 16th century).

Sovereignty (from the French "souveraineté" from "souverain" - the bearer of supreme power) is a state of independence
of state power from any other power, which consists in its right and ability to independently, without the intervention of any
other force, manage its internal and external life.

Constitutional law distinguishes several types of sovereignty:

• State
• National
• People's

State Sovereignty

State sovereignty is a qualitative feature of the state, characterizing its political and legal essence, such political and legal
property of state power, which means its supremacy and completeness within the country, independence and equality outside.

There are two sides of state sovereignty:

• Internal Sovereignty: Expresses the supremacy and completeness of state power in relation to all other organizations
  in the political system of society, its monopoly right to legislation, administration, and jurisdiction within the country within
  the entire state territory.

• External Sovereignty: Expresses the independence and equality of the state as a subject of international law in relations
  with other states, the inadmissibility of interference in internal state affairs from outside.

Internal sovereignty is also called legislative sovereignty, since it assumes the right of the legislative power to issue laws.

State Sovereignty Implies:

1. Supremacy: The absence of any other higher public authority on the territory of the country; state power can cancel,
   invalidate any manifestation of any other public authority.
2. Independence: The ability to independently make decisions within the country and abroad while complying with the
   norms of national and international law.
3. Completeness: The extension of state power to all spheres of state life, to the entire population and public organizations
   of the country.
4. Indivisibility of Power: The unity of power as a whole and only its functional division into branches of power: legislative,
    executive, judicial; direct implementation of government orders.
5. Independence in External Relations: The ability to independently make decisions outside the country while complying
   with the norms of international law and respecting the sovereignty of other countries.
6. Equality in External Relations: The presence in international relations of the same rights and obligations as in other
   countries.
7. Inalienability: The impossibility of arbitrary alienation of legitimate and legal power, only the presence of the ability,
   enshrined in law, to delegate sovereign rights of the state to local self-government bodies (in a unitary state), to federal
   subjects and local self-government bodies (in a federal state).

Sovereignty is possessed by any state, regardless of the size of its territory, population, form of government, and structure.
State sovereignty is a fundamental principle of international law. It has found its expression in the UN Charter and other
international legal documents.

A State Has Sovereign Rights:

• The right of war and peace
• The right to issue laws
• The right to form state bodies
• The right to determine its attributes (symbolism)
• The right to establish taxes
• The right to appoint its representatives to other states and international organizations
• The right to enter into interstate unions, etc.

However, a state does not have the right to do everything it considers necessary in relation to other states. International
law warns against such actions. For example, states are prohibited from using force against other states, except in
self-defense or when authorized by the UN Security Council. Another limitation on the freedom of a state is the legal
obligation to fulfill the treaties it has concluded.

Sovereignty of the People

The sovereignty of the state should be distinguished from the sovereignty of the nation.

Sovereignty of the people (the people - citizens of all nationalities living in the territory of a given country) means the
supremacy of the people as the source and bearer of power, their right to decide their own fate, directly or through
representative bodies to participate in shaping the direction of their state's policy, the composition of its bodies, and
to control the activities of state power.

Popular sovereignty is one of the principles of the constitutional order in all democratic states. The sovereignty of
the people, enshrined in the constitution, is a qualitative characteristic of democracy, a democratic regime in the state.

The sovereignty of the state does not necessarily imply the sovereignty of the people. The sovereignty of the state can
be combined with the absence of the sovereignty of the people, with the presence of a totalitarian regime, despotism.
As a rule (but not always), the absence of the external sovereignty of the state causes the loss of the sovereignty of
the people as the internal freedom of its political state. In a democratic state, the source and basis of cooperation of all
powers is the constituent power of the people. Here, the sovereignty of the people is the source of the sovereignty of
the state.

National Sovereignty

National sovereignty is the sovereignty of the nation, its political freedom, possession of a real opportunity to determine
the nature of its national life, including the ability to politically self-determine up to the separation and formation of
an independent state.

The sovereignty of the nation means the sovereignty of the nation, which is realized through its fundamental rights.

A nation (in legal terms) is equivalent to the concept of "people". The concept of "nation" also includes the meaning
of citizenship.

A nation is citizens of a state of different nationalities who are united by similarities in solving essential political and
psychological problems. This similarity arises as a result of living in the same territory and long-term communication
with each other. A nation (in ethnic terms) is an ethno-social community in which self-awareness of its identity has been
formed (common historical fate, psychology and character, perception of national, material and spiritual values, etc.),
as well as territorial - linguistic and economic unity.

Fundamental Rights of a Nation:

• The right to existence and free development, possession of a real opportunity to determine the nature of one's national
  life, including the ability to exercise the right to political self-determination (state self-organization - up to the creation
  of an independent state).
• The right to free development of national needs (economic and social).
• The right to spiritual and cultural development, respect for national honor and dignity, development of national language,
  customs, traditions.
• The right to dispose of natural and material resources on its territory.
• The right to peaceful coexistence with other peoples and nations.
• The right to ecological safety, etc.

Thus, the sovereignty of a nation means possession of a real opportunity to determine the nature of its national life, to independently
 decide issues related to the development of national freedom and national needs, the right to respect for national honor and dignity,
 development of culture, language, customs, traditions, creation of national institutions. The sovereignty of one nation is impossible
 without respecting the sovereignty of other nations and nationalities, without a respectful attitude to their national needs and rights.

In a multinational state, its sovereignty cannot be the sovereignty of one nation as an ethno-social community. It includes obligations
in relation to other nations that are contemporaries of the "title" nation, existing in parallel with it.

State sovereignty, exercised by a multinational state, must guarantee the sovereignty of each of the united nations. If a nation has
 exercised its right to political self-determination by uniting into a union state (federation), the sovereignty of each of the united
nations is achieved by ensuring the sovereign rights of the subjects of the union, which have ceded part of their rights to the
multinational state (for example, the protection of common state borders, the implementation of a common financial, tax, and
defense policy).

The main thing is that the nation that constitutes the majority in the country and gave its name to the state does not use its
superiority to restrict the rights of representatives of another nation. Any national discrimination or the desire of one nation to
subjugate another is illegal and unacceptable.