The aim is to present the significance of state sovereignty trough a theoretical overview and analysis of the important concept in the realm of political theory - the notion of sovereignty. Also the paper will seek to create a comprehensive but easily understandable definition of sovereignty and its importance in international relations, especially in recognition of states. In this respect, the paper will clarify the concept of sovereignty, taking into consideration the transformations and challenges of the international security environment at the beginning of the 21st century. The paper presents the issue of state sovereignty in the field of international relations, where states, although theoretically equal among themselves, are hierarchically ranked according to their national performances which are eventually converted into power at the international level. It is analyzed, based on exploring the existing literature in the area of interest and with the help of direct observation...

Despite occasional claims for a fade-out of the Westphalian concept of State sovereignty, the international community does in fact continue to depend on it. The Marxist doctrine once predicted the fate of the concept, but developing countries, while adopting Marxist teachings in their criticism of the traditional international legal institutions, have tended to reinforce their sense of sovereignty in their dealings with the established international order. International law has developed through increased cooperation among sovereign States in recent years as, for example, in the European Union, but it allows the State to assert sovereignty in a variety of ways: persistent objection to the formation of a customary rule of international law; nuclear threat in a world of general prohibition of the use of force; and above all, the unchanged concept of territorial sovereignty. The very notion of the State has these essential components: " (a) a permanent population, (b) a defined territory, (c) government, and (d) capacity to enter into relations with other States " (Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States of 1933, Article 1). This is evidenced in the actual state of the international community: sovereign States generally refrain from interfering in the domestic affairs of the others. Whatever political regime and social institutions a State may have is a matter for it within its own territorial limits. In so far as international boundaries exist as a matter of fact, they may be disputed between the States concerned, as history abundantly shows. In the foreseeable future, therefore, boundary disputes, especially maritime boundary disputes, could inevitably arise or emerge if and when natural resources are involved in the boundary areas. The IBRU will never lose its jobs.

The State, as the fundamental unit of the international system, appeals to ultimate power and authority in order to control its own domestic affairs and claims equality as a legal basis regarding its relation with other legal political units. But the existence of the sovereign state in the current international context, where the multiple interdependencies generate divergence and cooperation in the same, is subject to permanent challenges. And the issue is not easy approachable in theory, nor in practice. Like other concepts, as security or democracy, the concept of sovereignty needs to be updated according to the new rules revealed by the process of globalization, rules that are defined not by the equal states, but by the powerful ones.