SOFT LAW AND SOVEREIGNTY – FROM A POLITICAL TO A LEGAL LIMITATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25234/pv/15594Keywords:
constitutional pluralism, legal sovereignty, behavioural sovereignty, relativisation of sovereignty, pseudo-sovereigntyAbstract
Firstly, the author analyses the theory of sovereignty from the point of its birth and then he considers more recent theoretical challenges facing the notion of sovereignty in a globalised world. Particular attention is paid to soft law – that new, formally non-binding source of international law in the light of its factual influence on the desovereignisation of states. The author holds the position that the relativisation of the notion of sovereignty has been a process that began already in the 18th century and that has only additionally accelerated with new challenges posed by globalisation. The author argues for the only possible and proper use of the notion of sovereignty in its original meaning as an absolute, completely unlimited, and indivisible power. On the other hand, he takes a critical approach not only to the theory of constitutional pluralism but also to the ideas of the state’s legal sovereignty. He pleads for rejection of separating different aspects of sovereignty, artificially distinguishing between the factual and legal sovereignty, as well as the external and internal sovereignty. While theoretically possible, it is of no practical use because the notion of sovereignty can only be correctly understood as a political and legal illimitability. For all other various modalities and attempts at relativising and grading sovereignty, from the 18th century to this day, different terms should be coined. Being mindful of the situation in most of the present-day states, the author advocates the introduction of the term "pseudo-sovereignty".
References
Abbott K W and Snidal D, 'Hard and Soft Law in International Governance' (2000) 54(3) International Organisation 421
Avramović D, '`Omekšavanjem prava` ka međunarodnoj vladavini prava' (2011) 2 Srpska politička misao 263
Avramović D, 'Sveta Gora – između autonomnosti i državnosti' (2013) 47(2) Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Novom Sadu 431
Cirn M, Upravljanje sa one strane nacionalne države (Filip Višnjić 2003)
Cohen J L, Globalisation and Sovereignty – Rethinking Legality, Legitimacy, and Constitutionalism (Cambridge University Press 2012)
Čavoški K, 'Poredak i suverenost' in A Kostić (ed), Državni poredak – suverenitet u vremenu globalizacije (SANU 2019)
Gojar-Fabr S, 'Pojam suverenosti od Bodena do Hobsa' in P Bojanić and I Milenković (eds), Suveren i suverenost – između pojma, fikcije i političke emocije (Službeni glasnik 2008)
De Vergotini Đ, Uporedno ustavno pravo (Službeni glasnik 2015)
Held D, Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance (Stanford University Press 1995)
Henis V, 'Rastakanje pojma suvereniteta' in P Bojanić and I Milenković (eds), Suveren i suverenost – između pojma, fikcije i političke emocije (Službeni glasnik 2008)
Hinsley F H, Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press 1986)
Hobbes T, Leviathan (Oxford University Press 1998)
Jovanov I, 'Povratak ka izvornom značenju pojma suvereniteta' (2015) 20(1) NBP – Žurnal za kriminalistiku i pravo 149
Kelsen H, 'Sovereignty and International Law' (1960) 48(4) Georgetown Law Journal 627
Kelsen H, Das Problem Der Souveränität Und Die Theorie Des Völkerrechts: Beitrag Zu Einer Reinen Rechtslehre (JCB Mohr 1920)
Klabbers J, 'The Undesirability of Soft Law' (1998) 67(4) Nordic Journal of International Law 381
Koskenniemi M, 'What Use for Sovereignty Today?' (2011) 1(1) Asian Journal of International Law 61
Krasner S, Sovereignty – Organised Hypocrisy (Princeton University Press 1999)
Lukić R, 'Povodom pojma izvora prava' (1974) 22(5–6) Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Beogradu 707
MacCormick N, 'Beyond the Sovereign State' (1993) 56(1) Modern Law Review 1
MacCormick N, Questioning Sovereignty (Oxford University Press 1999)
Meyer T, 'Soft Law as Delegation' (2008) 32(3) Fordham International Law Journal 887
Pejić I, 'Ustavotvorna vlast u vremenu globalizacije' in A Kostić (ed), Državni poredak – suverenitet u vremenu globalizacije (SANU 2019)
Petrov V, 'Ustav danas – šta je ostalo od suverenosti ustavotvorca?' in A Kostić (ed), Državni poredak – suverenitet u vremenu globalizacije (SANU 2019)
Rousseau JJ, The Social Contract (Oxford University Press 1999)
Schmitt C, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty (The University of Chicago Press 2005)
Shaffer GC and Pollack MA, 'Hard Vs. Soft Law: Alternatives, Complements, and Antagonists in International Governance' (2010) 94(3) Minnesota Law Review 706
Steinberg RH, 'Who is Sovereign?' (2004) 40(2) Stanford International Law Journal 329
Šolte JA, Globalizacija – kritički uvod (CID 2009)
Šurlan T, 'Internacionalizacija ustavnog prava naspram globalizacije ustavnog prava' in A Kostić (ed) Državni poredak – suverenitet u vremenu globalizacije (SANU 2019)
Troper M, 'Sovereignty' in M Rosenfeld and A Sajó (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press 2012) 350–70
Tucak I, 'Globalizacija i državni suverenitet' (2007) 7(1) Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava 139
Walker N, 'The Idea of Constitutional Pluralism' (2002) 65(3) Modern Law Review 317
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Dragutin Avramović
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright on the papers published in the Journal, but grant the right of first publication to the Journal. Papers accepted for publication or already published in Pravni vjesnik of the Faculty of Law in Osijek may be published by the author(s) in other publications only with proper notice of its previous publication in Pravni vjesnik.
