State Sovereignty under Strain: Pakistan’s Experience in Contemporary Public International Law

Abstract

The concept of state sovereignty is considered to be one of the pillars of public international law. Yet, it has been drained over the years by globalization, the formation of international legal regimes, and the emergence of new geopolitical realities. The international commitments, regional security, and national constitutional framework constitute a dynamic and complex environment in which Pakistan's sovereignty is at play in the present case of developing countries. This paper is a critical examination of the situation of state sovereignty in Pakistan, regarding the present-day concept of modern international law, international treaties, and international organizations in governance of the world, the extent of the impacts of the regional conflicts in terms of international law, and the local legal systems of Pakistan regarding its sovereign power. The paper takes a doctrinal and analytical position and applies the instruments of international law, constitutional law, judicial law, and the history of geopolitics. It writes that the sovereignty of Pakistan did not expire; rather, it has been re-functionalized into a qualified and relational structure by consent-based commitments and external pressures. The article can be applied to the scholarship on the Global South because it uses Pakistan as an example of a strategically critical yet economically constrained state that balances legal freedom and dependence on the universal common good.