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6 Amsterdam L.F. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/amslawf6 and id is 1 raw text is: AMSTERDAM LAW FORUM VU UNIVERhin AM$TERDAM Editorial Re-visiting our understanding of sovereignty: An homage to the people Xhanti Mhlambiso - Editor-in-Chief A lot has happened in the international realm during the past couple of months. In Africa, mediators continue to advocate for the negotiation of a peace deal in South Sudan, pressing for a cease-fire as government troops fight for control over the last rebel-held town. In the Middle-East, the Friends of Syria alliance has been met with further difficulties in unifying rebel groups, despite the fact that the first direct talks between President Bashar Al-Assad's government and the opposition are scheduled to commence in Geneva on the 22nd January 2014. Closer to home, in Europe, human rights lawyers and campaigners alike have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate allegations of torture in Iraq which are said to have constituted a 'systematic abuse' of Iraqi detainees by British troops during their presence in the country, arguing that they meet the threshold requirements for war crimes. The aforementioned cases are but a few examples of intervention by states and other non-state actors, despite such action (arguably) being contrary to the notion of state sovereignty. The sovereignty-intervention debate is one that is well-known in the field of International Law. However, the ambivalent (and often tumultuous) relations between certain states invite a re-examination of our contemporary understanding of sovereignty. There is no denying that globalisation has led to an unprecedented movement of people, capital and knowledge throughout the world. As such, traditional distinctions based on borders are no longer effective in determining or containing the hegemonic influence of states. Now more than ever, it is clear that the rise of non-state actors in the form of multi-national organizations, corporations, foreign aid agencies, transparency agencies and human rights agencies has had both a facilitating and constricting effect on governments' ability to adopt certain policies and to participate in global dialogue. It can be said that the concept of sovereignty has changed over time-from the traditional view that the state holds absolute authority, to the more contemporary view that the people, not states, are the prime consideration when it comes to political legitimacy. One of the most renowned advocates for the contemporary understanding of sovereignty as peoples not states is the political philosopherJohn Rawls. Rawls's theory of sovereignty is based on the idea that the highest authority is not a

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