Latest Commentaries
Sunday 16 November 2025
All of Sir Ronald's commentaries up to 6 November 2025 can be read in the "Commentaries" section of this website. The most recent one is entitled, "Sovereignty” – A Plaything of the Powerful?"
“Sovereignty” – A Plaything of the Powerful?
For the powerful, sovereignty is a sword; for the small, it must remain a shield
By Sir Ronald Sanders
Sovereignty is supposedly the cornerstone of international order: the formal declaration that every state has the right to govern itself, protect its territory, and determine its own destiny. Yet the charters of the United Nations and the Organization of American States proclaim not the idea of sovereignty in general, but the specific principle of sovereign equality among states. In law, all states are equal in sovereignty; in practice, they are not. Sovereignty is both a right and a capacity, and while every nation possesses the right, not all have the means to exercise it freely. In the real world, only powerful states are truly sovereign; weak countries are sovereign only by permission, or by strong collective action.
Since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the idea that all states are equal before international law has been celebrated as the great equalizer of nations. Yet power, not law, defines the boundaries of freedom. Great powers decide when intervention is justified, which states may possess certain technologies, and what constitutes legitimate governance. They regularly exempt themselves from the rules they enforce on others.
The problem is not new; it has only changed form. The international system was built to preserve order among the strong, not to guarantee equality for the weak. Law follows power, not the reverse. When powerful states act beyond the limits of law - in military action, sanctions, or financial coercion - they are not punished. For smaller states, however, the slightest deviation invites reproach, blacklisting, or exclusion.
See the entire commentary in the commentaries section.