Sovereignty: meaning, aspects, attributes and kinds

Political Science - Theory and Thoughts · Unit I · Topic 4 of 17 · 5 min read

Bodin's and Austin's definitions, internal and external sovereignty, the seven attributes, the kinds of sovereignty and the pluralist attack.

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On this page

1. Meaning and definitions
2. Austin s theory
3. Aspects: internal and external
4. Attributes
5. Kinds
6. The pluralist attack
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. Two definitions (Bodin and Austin), the difference between internal and external sovereignty, the attributes, and the kinds (legal, political, popular, de jure, de facto). Sovereignty appears in some form in every recent paper.

1. Meaning and definitions

The word comes from the Latin superanus, meaning supreme. Sovereignty is the supreme power of the State over all persons and associations within its territory, and its independence from any outside authority. It is the element that marks the State off from every other association.

Jean Bodin, Six Books of the Commonwealth (1576): sovereignty is the supreme power over citizens and subjects, unrestrained by law. Bodin wrote during the French wars of religion and wanted a strong monarchy, though he kept the sovereign bound by divine and natural law.
Grotius: the supreme political power vested in him whose acts are not subject to any other and whose will cannot be overridden.
Burgess: original, absolute, unlimited power over the individual subject and over all associations of subjects.
Willoughby: the supreme will of the State.

2. Austin’s theory

John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832), gave the classic legal statement: “If a determinate human superior, not in a habit of obedience to a like superior, receive habitual obedience from the bulk of a given society, that determinate human superior is sovereign in that society, and the society (including the superior) is a society political and independent.”

From this follow its features: sovereignty lies in a determinate person or body; the sovereign receives habitual obedience from the bulk of society; he is not subject to any superior; his power is indivisible and unlimited; and law is the command of the sovereign.

Criticism. Maine pointed to Ranjit Singh of Punjab, an absolute ruler who never made a law and governed by custom, to show that obedience rests on more than command. In a democracy it is hard to locate a determinate sovereign; in a federation powers are divided between the Union and the States; customary and international law are not commands of anyone. Still, Austin’s theory gives a clear account of legal sovereignty.

3. Aspects: internal and external

Internal sovereignty	External sovereignty
Supremacy of the State over all individuals and associations within its territory	Independence of the State from control by any other State
Shown by making and enforcing law, taxation, punishment	Shown by conducting foreign relations, making treaties, declaring war and peace
Laski: the State issues orders to all and receives orders from none within its area	Recognised in Article 2(1) of the UN Charter: the sovereign equality of all members
Example: Parliament’s laws bind every person and body in India	Example: India’s independent foreign policy, non-alignment

The two are sides of one power. External sovereignty is limited in practice by international law, treaties and membership of bodies such as the UN and WTO, but these limits are accepted by the State’s own consent, which is itself an exercise of sovereignty.

4. Attributes

Absoluteness: no legal limit within the State.
Permanence: lasts as long as the State. The death of a king or a change of government does not end it; it passes to the successor.
Universality (all-comprehensiveness): extends to every person and association in the territory. Diplomatic immunity is an exception granted by the State’s own courtesy.
Exclusiveness: there cannot be two sovereigns in one State.
Inalienability: the State cannot give it away without ceasing to be a State. Lieber: sovereignty can no more be alienated than a tree can alienate its right to sprout.
Indivisibility: divided sovereignty is a contradiction. In a federation it is the powers of government that are divided, not sovereignty.
Originality: it is the State’s own power, not delegated by anyone.
Imprescriptibility: not lost by non-use over time.

5. Kinds

Titular (nominal) and real. The British monarch is the titular sovereign; real power is with Parliament and the Cabinet. In India the President acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers (Article 74).
Legal sovereignty. The authority that can issue the highest commands in law, which courts enforce. Dicey treated the British Parliament as legally sovereign: it can make or unmake any law. In India the Constitution is supreme and Parliament is limited by it.
Political sovereignty. The power behind the legal sovereign: the electorate and public opinion. Dicey: behind the sovereign which the lawyer recognises there is another sovereign to whom the legal sovereign must bow.
Popular sovereignty. Ultimate power belongs to the people. Associated with Rousseau, the American and French Revolutions, and the Preamble’s “We, the people of India”. Its weakness is vagueness: “the people” cannot act except through law and institutions.
De jure and de facto. The de jure sovereign has the legal right to rule; the de facto sovereign actually commands obedience, whether by force or otherwise. After a coup the military ruler is de facto sovereign; if he lasts, he usually becomes de jure. Examples: Cromwell in England; the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2021, which controls the country but has little international recognition.

6. The pluralist attack

Laski, MacIver, Figgis, Duguit and Barker rejected the monistic (Austinian) theory. Society contains many associations (church, trade unions, professional bodies) each with its own sphere; the State is one association among them. Laski wrote that it would be of lasting benefit to political science if the whole concept of sovereignty were surrendered. Globalisation, international law and human rights treaties are used today to make a similar point. Answer: pluralism is a useful warning against an all-powerful State, but some final authority is still needed to settle conflicts between associations, and that authority is the State.

Federal States trap. Do not write that India has “divided sovereignty”. Sovereignty belongs to the Indian State; the Constitution divides legislative and executive powers between the Union and the States (Seventh Schedule).

How this is examined

January 2025 (100-mark): “Define Sovereignty. Explain the kinds of sovereignty” (16 marks). January 2026 (80-mark): “Discuss the meaning and attributes of sovereignty” (6 marks); January 2026 (100-mark): sovereignty as a short note. June 2025: “What is the difference between internal and external sovereignty?” (6 marks). For the 16-mark version, write definitions, Austin with criticism, both aspects, attributes and kinds, and close with the pluralist view.

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