Abstract
The Article is divided into six sections. Section II begins with an analysis of the conceptual relation between equality and the essential element of statehood, namely the plurality of states and their formation of an unorganized or anarchical society, followed in Section III by an analysis of the significance of the status of membership in the international society for the concept of "sovereign equality" as established by the United Nations. Section IV deals with the transformations of the structure of international society from its incipient character as a horizontal or anarchical society through the League of Nations to the UNO. In Section V, I give an account of the present-day tendencies towards the constitutionalization of global society, followed by the concluding Section in which I demonstrate the consequences of these developments for the principle of the legal equality of states. I submit the hypothesis that, in a constitutionalized global society, the time-honored principle of equality, inherently connected with the no longer existing horizontal or unorganized society of states, cannot survive and must be reconceptualized and adapted to a framework of international interdependency.
Recommended Citation
Preuss, Ulrich K.
(2008)
"Equality of States - Its Meaning in a Constitutionalized Global Order,"
Chicago Journal of International Law:
Vol. 9:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol9/iss1/3