The Concept of Sovereignty in the Political Philosophy – From Antiquity to the Contemporary Epoch

Abstract

The concept of state power represents the dominant theme of the whole political philosophy. The concept of sovereignty, which in contemporary epoch became the norm of constitutional law and unanimously recognized principle of international law, has concerned philosophical minds since antiquity to nowadays. The best minds of humanity contemplated about the essence of the state power. The major thinkers of all times were finding out the answer to the question “How should be organized the state so that all people to be happy?” The answer to this question is connected with the concept of sovereignty, which was developed during the humanity’s history. The idea of sovereignty refers to the state body or the person who exercises state power. So, for each epoch is characteristic its own vision of this concept, that reflects, on the one hand, the entire structure of society, and, on the other hand, the state’s ruler position. The sovereignty, which appeared as the concept in the Greek Antiquity, was developed in the Meddle Age and Modern Era and fully formed in the contemporary era, being the component part of majority national constitutions. This article is a study dedicated to determining the specific aspects of sovereignty in the background of the idea’s history. A doctrinal and practical interest in the concept of sovereignty is based on the political and legal dimension of this notion in the actual state construction. As a result of this research, we aimed to determine the role and the regulation of sovereignty in the cotemporaneous state order at national and international level. This research paper focuses on the presentation of the philosophical aspects of this concept of constitutional law.