Donald M. Snow Professor Emeritus - Cases in International Relations: Principles and Applications

T his edition of the book is once again dedicated to my good friend and colleague, the late D. Eugene Brown. Gene and I met in 1989 at the U.S. Army War College, where we both served as visiting professors and shared an office for two years before he returned to his permanent home at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, and I returned to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In the ensuing decade, we were collaborators on several book projects; Cases in International Relations, which was mostly Genes idea, was to be a continuation, even culmination, of those efforts. Unfortunately, Gene left us before the original project was complete. His shadow remains, I hope with a smile on his face.

I have also received generous and very helpful assistance from the team at Rowman & Littlefield. In particular, I would like to thank two members of the Rowman & Littlefield team. My editors, Susan McEachern and Michael Kerns, obtained the reversion of rights to me for the seventh edition and encouraged me throughout the writing process. Alden Perkins did her usual professional job turning the manuscript into a book, our fourth project together. Special thanks go to Elizabeth Von Buhr, who cheerfully and efficiently came to my aid when my lack of knowledge and empathy with the dynamics of electronic infernal machines left me in a bewildered panic (a recurrent burden on her). Thanks for everything, guys!

Lastly, I would like to thank the reviewers of the ninth edition: Dan Caldwell (Pepperdine University) and Alfredo Carnevali (Montclair State University).

D ONALD M. S NOW
P ROFESSOR E MERITUS
U NIVERSITY OF A LABAMA

S overeigntysupreme authorityhas been the most central concept and operational principle of the international order since the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War in 1648. Since then, sovereignty has been defined territorially as possessed by states. This has meant that state sovereignty is the principle on which world political order is grounded. Within sovereign states, there can be no authority greater than that of the state. In principle, it is absolute in scope. In practice there are infringements on the total control of the state. Sovereignty is a controversial operational concept that is used to justify armed violence and can be a shield behind which atrocity is sometimes committed. Established sovereignty does, however, endow its possessor with international legitimacy, making it a valued commodity among possessing political actors.

Sovereignty is pervasive, is jealously guarded by its state possessors, and is a fundamental pillar of world politics. Some states are more obsessed with protecting their sovereignty than others, but it is important to all states. The most powerful states have the most to lose if others can infringe on their sovereignty, and they tend to be the strongest champions of state sovereignty. China and the United States are the purest examples of this dynamic in contemporary international politics.

The pervasiveness of sovereignty extends to virtually all aspects of international interactions, and it is so important that a systematic examination of international relations must begin by understanding the concept and how it intrudes on so many of the dealings of international actors. One area where claims of sovereignty are most foundational occurs when multiple states claim jurisdiction over the same territory and where the claimants are unwilling to relax or compromise their claims, resulting in especially bitter conflict that can, at worst, devolve to armed conflict between them. In contemporary international relations, an example is the contest between Israel and the Palestinians over the West Bank of the Jordan River, a part of sovereign Jordan until 1967, when it was occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War. The Israelis and the Palestinians have each claimed sovereign primacy ever since.