Any exchange of views about the underlying philosophy, structure, or operation of international relations begins with the concept of sovereignty. Viewed as “supreme authority”, it is the operational base of both international and domestic political life, although with quite opposite effects on the two realms. Ever since it surfaced as the bedrock organizational tenet of world politics in the latter part of the seventeenth century, it is, and has always been, a somewhat controversial foundation for world affairs. Dissension has surrounded matters such as the location of sovereignty and the extent of power that it conveys to its possessors, and concepts have evolved over time. Disagreements over sovereignty are conspicuous features of some debates about the evolving international order and the assault on its basic function is part and parcel of international conferring.

Seventeenth century nations witnessed the wresting of political power from the church and the attendant bestowal of this very power on secular authorities. This transfer was accompanied by the effective installation of sovereignty as the basis of relations among secular political communities. An ultimate outcome of this “marriage” was the association of sovereignty with territorial political jurisdictions. Mirroring the political period in which this concept became the bellwether of an evolving secular state-based system, sovereignty began as a principle that legitimized and promoted authoritarian rule. That principle was challenged with the rise of democratic thought, suggesting that sovereignty was a trait not only of the ruler but the ruled as well. From this challenge sprang the modern notion of popular sovereignty. (254 words)

Snow, D. M. (2019) Cases in International Relations – Principles and Applications. (8^th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 3-4, with adaptations.

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A tarefa da tradução este ano foi um texto bastante longo, assim como em 2019. Apesar de não ter sido um texto literário, como em 2019, o texto trazia diversos problemas de tradução, principalmente em termos de equivalências no nível das palavras e acima do nível das palavras.