<aside> 💡 From this lesson, you must know…
Sovereignty refers to the dominant power or supreme authority, particularly in the context of a government. It pertains to the decision-making power and who has the ultimate control in a specific area or jurisdiction.
In other words, who has the decision-making power in a government? It is important to make the distinction between political power and ceremonial power. See below for more.
In politics, power can be derived from several sources, including military force, divine right, popular vote, or hereditary right.
When thinking about sovereignty, ask yourself if it is ceremonial power or actual political power?
Ceremonial power is relating to or used for formal events of a religious or public nature.
Political power is having the ability to write and change public policy.
The Rule of One involves a single person, such as a monarch, emperor, or dictator, having sole control over a government.
Absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or a small clique with force. Examples of this form of government include 🇰🇵 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan.
<aside> ☝ This is where it is important to recognize that just because a country has ‘democratic’ or ‘republic’ in its name, doesn’t mean it’s actually that.
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Undivided hereditary rule or absolute sovereignty by a single person
While a dictatorship usually takes power by military might, a monarchy might take power by divine right or hereditary (inherited from family member to the next) right.
A rule of few involve only a small group of people sharing power over a government. The method of choosing this group may depend on factors such as divine right, military force, skill and expertise, wealth, and/or political connections. We explore some here: