The Obsolescence of State Sovereignty Concept: The Role of the International Criminal Court and the African States in Context

The academic study of sovereignty is undergoing a renaissance. The dynamics of sovereignty have witnessed different treatise ever since the formation of the state system. The paradox and ambiguity of the concept is unavoidable as long as it is linked to the state. This thesis shall critically examine the nature of the concept state sovereignty and trace its origins, usage, and development. International Relations (IR), as a social science is subject to different interpretations of its study, theories and concepts. Sovereignty as a key concept of IR is also subject to the same. This study shall focus on the new conceptions of sovereignty that are emerging, review the classical perspectives of sovereignty, survey new alternatives tp/the classical concept or what is widely known as the Westphalian sovereignty and further interrogate the jurisdictional link between state sovereignty and adherence to the rule of law in the international justice system with respect to international crimes. This study shall interrogate the theoretical conceptions of the state vis-a-vis the classical, modem and postmodern approaches of sovereignty. It is from this backdrop that, this thesis shall try to examine how the advent of the ad hoc international criminal jurisdictions have impacted or contributed to the contemporary debate on sovereignty. This study shall further delve into the complementarity of the International Criminal Court to national criminal jurisdictions with special focus on African States. The development of the principle oft individual criminal accountability which culminated with the advent of the ICC shall be the central argument in explaining the gradual paradigm shift from state sovereignty to individual sovereignty. It is as a result of this emerging paradigm shift that the African States are confronted with the dilemma of the obsolescence of state sovereignty.