International Law, International Relations Theory, and Preemptive War: The Vitality of Sovereign Equality Today
Lee, Thomas H.
Abstract
The norm of sovereign equality in international law is so resolutely canonical that its precise meaning, origins, and justifications are rarely examined. Whatever the general merits of the norm, its retention seems fairly open to question when one sovereign state appears supremely unequal among 191 states in terms of military power.