Sovereignty

Abstract

The contribution considers what the growing international role of cities reveals about the notion of sovereignty. It shows the existence of reciprocal challenges and needs between cities and states, and of an interdependence utilised by states as a new way to express their sovereignty. Indeed, on the one hand the power of states depends on the power of their cities, and on the other hand the power of cities depends on their international activities. Then, if states want to regulate and benefit from the power of their cities, states have no choice but to act as sovereign by empowering their cities to engage in international activities. This empowerment is an act by which the state remains the higher legal authority. In international law, sovereignty does not imply that independence and interdependence are antonyms: sovereignty is the legal tool by which the state can regulate and benefit from the interdependencies affecting it.