Sovereign states are the fundamental and indispensable elements of the international system. However, in modern politics, there are many moments when sovereignty is seen to be crumbling. This essay sets out to examine the evidence to see whether sovereignty, as the cornerstone of modern politics, is indeed crumbling. It will examine and analyze vital organizations, phenomena and situations such as globalization, the United Nations, the European Union and wars. It will show that they certainly compromise a state's sovereignty, but there are also positive aspects to these compromises. It will demonstrate that even if some aspects of traditional sovereignty are compromised, such compromises are positive and will also demonstrate that sovereignty is still a vital aspect in modern politics. Contemporary pundits often cite the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 as the political big bang that created the modern system of autonomous states. Westphalia, which ended the thirty-year war against the hegemonic power of the Holy Roman Empire, delegitimized the already declining transnational role of the Catholic Church and validated the idea that international relations should be guided by balance - by considerations of power rather than from ideals of Christianity (Krasner, 2001). The international state system, organizations and multinational corporations that flourish today are said to have originated from the Peace of Westphalia. Therefore the sovereignty we have today is also known as Westphalian sovereignty. The three fundamental principles of this sovereignty are equality between states, a policy of non-intervention of one state by another state and the right to political self-determination of a state. Therefore sovereignty is defined as the ena...... middle of paper ......impact on the three principles of sovereignty. The United Nations continues to fly the flag of sovereignty and condemns anyone who violates it, the European Union is emerging and strengthening it by building a European superstate and, above all, wars fought with an honest humanitarian approach indeed help to strengthen sovereignty between a state and the other. and his company. Therefore in modern politics, even though sovereignty is declining in some areas, it is mainly positive, where as in other areas it is still a vital concept for all nations and for modern politics. Works Cited Featherston, Scott (2004) 'Review of Stephen C. Schlesinger's Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations' SAIS Review, 24 (1): 201-203. Annan, Kofi (2005) In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All (New York: United Nations).