Contents:
Sovereignty in Canada
Sovereignty
Definition of Sovereignty by Rand Dyck and Christopher Cochrane (in their book “Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches”) in the context of political science in Canada: Ultimate control or independence, whether in terms of Canadian national sovereignty vis-à-vis other countries or of Quebec sovereignty vis-à-vis the federal government.
Definition of Sovereignty
The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Sovereignty: The authority possessed by the governing individual or institution of a society. Sovereign authority is distinct in that it is unrestricted by legal regulation since the sovereign authority is itself the source of all law. The idea of state sovereignty appears to have developed first in Europe, in the late middle ages, where it emerged once a division was made between the sacred authority of the church and the secular authority of the state. So long as state power was subject to religious institutions -like the Catholic church – state sovereignty could not emerge. In Britain, state sovereignty is possessed by the Crown in Parliament: law passed by Parliament and consented to by the Crown has unchallengeable legal authority. In Canada, the locus of sovereignty is more ambiguous since the written parts of Canada’s constitution, the Constitution Act of 1867 and the Constitution Act 1982, prescribe a federal-provincial division of powers and special procedures for constitutional amendment that limit the authority of the Crown and Parliament. Major changes to Canada’s constitution require the unanimous consent of parliament and the ten provincial legislatures thus suggesting that political sovereignty in Canada is shared by the Crown in Parliament and the Crown and legislatures of Canada’s ten provinces.
Sovereignty: Resources
Notes and References
- Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Sovereignty. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada
Resources
See Also
- Politics
- Political Science