Sovereignty – a right royal problem
Children’s questions are the hardest. ‘Is Mummy a woman?’ ‘Yes, of course, dear.’ ‘What’s a woman?’ ‘Er, well…’
Don’t worry. We’re not pursuing that question; this is a gonad-free zone. But the conversation might be just as awkward, albeit in a different way, if the question were ‘What does “sovereignty” mean, Dad?’
‘Well, dear child, the dictionary has several meanings for most words, and sovereignty is no exception.’
‘Don’t patronise me, Dad. I want to understand what I’ve just got back from the EU. I’m told it’s sovereignty.’
‘All right. This is what the Oxford English Dictionary says.’
‘Dad, let’s call it the OED. I wasn’t born yesterday.’
‘Very well, as its first meaning the OED gives “supremacy or pre-eminence in respect of excellence or efficacy”.’
‘Hm, that’s a bit abstract, Dad. And if we’re judging excellence or efficacy in government, isn’t it doubtful whether Britain has ever been pre-eminent, either in or out of the EU?’
‘Yes, you’re right. But those who say Britain has regained its sovereignty may be using the OED’S second definition, “supremacy in respect of power … supreme dominion, authority or rule”.’
‘Come off it, Dad. No one believes Britain has had that kind of supremacy for ages, perhaps ever, and certainly not after Suez and in the 1970s when we joined the Common Market. What’s the third definition?’
‘Number three is “the position, rank or power of a supreme ruler or monarch” and number four is “a territory under the rule of a sovereign, or existing as an independent state”. I think that’s what the Brexiteers wanted. The OED cites an example of this use in 1849: the “United States, with 30 governors, for 30 independent sovereignties”.’
‘That’s an interesting citation. A decade or two later, after Appomattox, 11 of those independent sovereignties learnt they weren’t free to secede. Or to have slaves. So much for sovereign independence.’
‘You’re a remarkable child if you know all about the American Civil War. You’re as precocious as John Stuart Mill.’
‘Funny you should say that, Dad. Mill had strong views about sovereignty. He thought the power of the state should be limited: “Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign,” he said. But Brexiteers seem more interested in the power of the state.’
‘Yes, they take “sovereignty” to mean “supreme power”, usually of the state. The term comes from the French souveraineté.
‘That came from the Latin superanus: super meaning ‘above’; anus, in this context, meaning not “fundament” or “old woman” but “of” or “pertaining to”. Most Brexiteers believe a country’s sovereignty is a matter of its ability to make its own laws. But, as the Encyclopaedia Britannica says, the term’s “application in practice has often departed from this traditional meaning”.’ ‘Oh. So meanings change?’ ‘Yes. When enough people start using a word to mean something new, dictionaries take note. It’s a matter, one might say, of “herd conformity”. But realities change too. Though North Korea may rejoice in its sovereignty, no democracy can now exist without membership of clubs such as the World Trade Organisation, whose rulings often infuriate its members, and NATO, which binds all its members to consider an armed attack on one of them as an armed attack on all.’
‘So what do politicians mean when they talk about sovereignty?’
‘Anything that suits them. When Scotland seizes its independence, the Nationalists will invoke Scotland’s sovereign rights. The Brexiteers could try to stop them in the UK Parliament, supposedly now sovereign again, but that wouldn’t work. Yet the fact that Britain has left the EU without resistance from the other members shows we never lost our independence.’
‘So all this sovereignty stuff is for the birds?’
‘Well, as Thomas Carlyle put it, “Whoso has sixpence is sovereign … to the length of sixpence.” ’