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Difficulty: MediumSovereignty: Concept, Types, Characteristics, and Limitations

If a sovereign state experiences a prolonged period during which a portion of its territory is temporarily occupied by insurgents, political theorists maintain that the state does not forfeit its supreme authority over that territory merely due to the lapse of time. Which characteristic of sovereignty explains this legal principle?

  1. ImprescriptibilityAnswer
  2. B
    Indivisibility
  3. C
    Inalienability
  4. D
    Absoluteness

Answer

Imprescriptibility is the characteristic of sovereignty asserting that supreme state authority is not lost due to the passage of time or temporary non-exercise of administrative control over a territory.
The correct answer is imprescriptibility because political theory establishes that sovereign power is permanent and cannot be lost simply because a state has been unable to exercise control over a part of its domain for a long period.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core issue described in the stem.
The state has lost physical control over a section of territory for a prolonged duration due to insurgency, but legal sovereignty remains intact.
The key constraint being tested is how the passage of time affects legal sovereignty.
2
Evaluate the characteristics of sovereignty against this temporal constraint.
Imprescriptibility explicitly prevents rights of state sovereignty from being terminated by prescription or the lapse of time. Inalienability concerns transfer of sovereignty, indivisibility concerns division of sovereign power, and absoluteness concerns unlimited legal jurisdiction.
Matching the precise theoretical definition of each characteristic isolates the correct attribute.

Key Concept

Imprescriptibility of Sovereignty
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Topics

Sovereignty: Concept, Types, Characteristics, and Limitations

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