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International Law, International Relations Theory, And Preemptive War: The Vitality Of Sovereign Equallity Today Case Studies In Conservative And Progressive Legal Orders, Thomas H. Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Although sovereign equality - the norm that all sovereign states are entitled to the same bundle of rights on the international plane - has long been a central norm of international law, its retention in the realm of preemptive war is fairly to be questioned when one sovereign state possesses overwhelming military power. In this Article, Professor Lee examines the historical and normative foundations of sovereign equality, finds them wanting under the condition of a militarily supreme republican state, but defends the norm on the pragmatic ground of what is best for the supreme state to defend itself against covert, …