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A SHORT HISTORY OF SOVEREIGNTY Sovereignty means not ruled by another. The concept of sovereignty was shaped by the social and economic environment of sixteenth and seventeeth century Europe. “The origin and history of sovereignty is closely related to the nature,origin and evolution of the state, and in particular to the development of centralized authority and an administrative system of political control”(1). If we look at Europe -widely recognized as the founding father of the modern sovereign state- we find that in medieval period both rulers and ruled were subject to universal legal order that derived its authority from law of God. By the end of the fifteenth century, with the growth of trade and manufacturing, and the introduction of taxes, power became centralized in the monarchies. Europe comprised some more or less independent political units, and also feodal order was declining. By the 16th century several other movements were contributing to this trend. The impact of Reneissance in art, philisophy and literature was very important in secularization of life and there was clear decline in the authority of chuch. With the Reformation and Counter-reformation and the subsuquent wars of religion “the emerging authorit