Guillermo Bryan Elkjaer Anzures De La Rosa (Independent) has posted Sovereignty as a Delegated Competence by International Law: A Structural Juridical Analysis on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The concept of sovereignty remains central to international legal theory, yet it is marked by a persistent logical antinomy: sovereignty is characterised on one hand as an absolute power, and on the other as a juridically limited competence. This article advances a strictly juridical analysis of sovereignty as lex lata, examining its nature, scope, and limits within the structure of the international legal order. The study proceeds according to the Structural Juridical Analysis Method (SJAM), which comprises three analytical layers: the normative layer, identifying the relevant norms and their hierarchical relations; the hermeneutic layer, determining their juridical meaning and the conditions of their application; and the consequential layer, deriving the necessary juridical conclusions through formal reasoning. Drawing upon international jurisprudence, the article demonstrates that sovereignty is neither an original nor an absolute power, but a competence delegated to States by international law, the validity and exercise of which are conditioned by that order. In particular, the analysis shows that State conduct, even when grounded in domestic law, remains subject to the requirements of international juridicity, and that sovereignty serves simultaneously as a competence delegated and as a juridical limitation within the international legal order. The article concludes that any attempt to present sovereignty as both absolute and juridically conditioned entails a logical contradiction. Sovereignty must therefore be understood as a competence delegated and juridically conditioned, normatively established within a unified legal system.
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