Westphalian system

The Westphalian system, also known as Westphalian sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory. The principle developed in Europe after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, based on the state theory of Jean Bodin and the natural law teachings of Hugo Grotius. It underlies the modern international system of sovereign states and is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, which states that "nothing ... shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state."^[1]

According to the principle, every state, no matter how large or small, has an equal right to sovereignty.^[2] Political scientists have traced the concept to the eponymous peace treaties which ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). The principle of non-interference was then further developed in the 18th century. The Westphalian system reached its peak in the 19th and 20th centuries, but it has faced recent challenges from advocates of humanitarian intervention.^[3] Efforts to curtail absolute sovereignty have met with substantial resistance by sovereigntist movements in multiple countries who seek to "take back control" from such transnational governance groups and agreements, restoring the world to pre-World War II norms of sovereignty.^[4]

^ "United Nations Charter, Chapter I: Purposes and Principles". United Nations. 26 June 1945. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ Simpson, Gerry (2006). Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521534901. The trajectory traced, in all this, describes a system developing out of the highly centralised and unequal relations that were the mark of the pre-Westphalian stage in international affairs to a Westphalian order in which the sovereign equality of states becomes a defining quality of the system.
^ Bankas, Ernest K (2005). The State Immunity Controversy in International Law: Private Suits Against Sovereign States in Domestic Courts. Springer. ISBN 9783540256953. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ Kallis, Aristotle (2018). "Populism, Sovereigntism, and the Unlikely Re-Emergence of the Territorial Nation-State" (PDF). Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. 11 (3): 10,14. doi:10.1007/s40647-018-0233-z. S2CID 158092242.

[UnitedNationsCharter-1] "United Nations Charter, Chapter I: Purposes and Principles". United Nations. 26 June 1945. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[simpson2006-2] Simpson, Gerry (2006). Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521534901. The trajectory traced, in all this, describes a system developing out of the highly centralised and unequal relations that were the mark of the pre-Westphalian stage in international affairs to a Westphalian order in which the sovereign equality of states becomes a defining quality of the system.

[bankas-3] Bankas, Ernest K (2005). The State Immunity Controversy in International Law: Private Suits Against Sovereign States in Domestic Courts. Springer. ISBN 9783540256953. Retrieved 13 February 2023.

[4] Kallis, Aristotle (2018). "Populism, Sovereigntism, and the Unlikely Re-Emergence of the Territorial Nation-State" (PDF). Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. 11 (3): 10,14. doi:10.1007/s40647-018-0233-z. S2CID 158092242.

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