Description
This paper examines how the defining elements of statehood and sovereignty are being re-evaluated in light of the de-stabilising effects of climate change. It revisits the classical legal conception of statehood – anchored in the Montevideo criteria of territory, population, government and capacity to enter into relations – and interrogates how these legal foundations intersect with cultural, political, and identity-based understandings of what it means to be a state. Bringing together international legal theory, political thought, and sociological perspectives, the paper explores how sovereignty has historically operated both as a juridical status and as a lived expression of collective identity. It traces how territoriality, embodiment, and recognition have co-constituted the modern state, and considers how these dimensions unravel when land territory becomes precarious or even ceases to exist. In doing so, the paper asks whether sovereignty can be imagined as relational rather than spatial, and how state identity and legitimacy might persist when physical territory submerges.
