How Viewing Sovereignty Through a Human Lens Can Change the World

At its very core the single most defining characteristic of a democracy that makes it stand out from other currently existing governmental systems is the principle of safeguarding access to universal basic human rights for all people in the world no matter who they are or where they live.

But, just because a democracy is rooted in human rights principles, it doesn’t mean that governments who operate democratic systems are necessarily leading by democratic values. In fact, the greatest issue today causing a rise in authoritarianism in the world and a decline in democracies is that governments who identify as democratic are compromising democratic values, which once again are rooted in safeguarding access to human rights, to forge relationships with dictatorship regimes.

If human rights principles need to be compromised for relations with other governments, then it is natural for these principles to lose their value over time.

The pretext of respecting national sovereignty is often used to justify such relations while overlooking that a nation encompasses more than its government; it includes its people, who make up the majority of the nation. And a dictatorship regime that deprives the nation they’re responsible for of their basic human rights cannot be regarded as representative of…