State Sovereignty and States’ Rights

1 The term sovereignty is etymologically rooted in the Latin superānus, which described an authority or individual who stands above (Oxford English Dictionary). Even though there is no generally agreed definition of ‘sovereignty’ or a finite list of ‘states’ rights’, the core meaning of the concept of ‘sovereignty’ describes a state’s right to exercise supreme authority within its territory (Philpott). 2 The term ‘states’ rights’ is strongly influenced by the federal system of the United States (‘US’) and defined as ‘the powers and authority that are neither held...