The Erosion of Sovereignty and the Return of Raw Power. By Sanusi Olamide Muiz.

The contemporary international system appears to be witnessing a gradual erosion of the very idea of sovereignty. Constraints on power are weakening, and the capacity; or willingness of global institutions to restrain the strong is increasingly in doubt. History offers sobering lessons about such moments. We have seen this before, and we know how it ended: catastrophic wars whose consequences the world still bears.

In periods where power becomes unchecked, human rights are easily subordinated to strategic ambition. States encroach upon one another not out of existential necessity, but to expand spheres of influence, secure strategic resources, or signal dominance. In such contests, it is rarely the great powers that suffer most. Instead, small and medium-sized states bear the brunt : politically, economically, and humanly.

Over the past five years alone, the global order has been strained by multiple, overlapping shocks: the weaponisation of trade and sanctions, the resurgence of non-state armed actors, prolonged conflicts, and a global pandemic that exposed deep weaknesses in international coordination. Rather than reinforcing collective restraint, these crises have accelerated fragmentation and intensified zero-sum thinking.

Recent developments; such as reports surrounding U.S. military action against Venezuela and the attempted arrest of President Nicolás Maduro, must be situated within this broader structural context. Whether justified or not, such actions signal a world in which the use of force and coercion increasingly bypasses multilateral norms. The concern is not about Venezuela, but about the precedent such actions reinforce in an already fragile international system.

As Bertrand Russell once warned, humanity faces a stark and unavoidable choice: “Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war?” We are, after all, “members of a biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire.”

Yet the persistence of power politics suggests that this choice is still being deferred rather than resolved.

What is at stake is not idealism, but survival. Without renewed commitment to restraint, institutions, and collective security, the international system risks drifting toward a world governed less by rules than by might. History suggests that such worlds do not end well.