Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the claim to be the ultimate political authority, subject to no higher power as regards the making and enforcing of political decisions. In the international system, sovereignty is the claim by the state to full self-government, and the mutual recognition of claims to sovereignty is the basis of international society. Sovereignty is the other side of the coin of international anarchy, for if states claim sovereignty, then the structure of the international system is by definition anarchic. Sovereignty should not be confused with freedom of action: sovereign actors may find themselves exercising freedom of decision within circumstances that are highly constrained by relations of unequal power.

External sovereignty which is independent or free from foreign rule while the internal sovereignty which means complete authority to rule over the people inside the state. For example, the first republic of the Philippines, (1898-1901) had internal sovereignty (it had a government, a flag, a national anthem, currency and law), but it did not have external sovereignty (the United States had annexed the Philippines) and no foreign state recognized its authority.