The Application of the Principle of State Sovereignity and Non-Intervention in the Cyberspace
The Application of the Principle of State Sovereignity and Non-Intervention in the Cyberspace

Author(s): Janis Grasis
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, International Law, Comparative Law, Labour and Social Security Law
Published by: Университет за национално и световно стопанство (УНСС)
Keywords: fundamental principles; state sovereignty; non-intervention; cyberspace
Summary/Abstract: In the recent years there were a hot debates about application of the principle of state sovereignty in cyberspace. States have repeatedly reaffirmed that the principle of sovereignty applies in cyberspace, and in particular that “in their use of ICTs, States must observe, among other principles of international law, State sovereignty, sovereign equality”. There are two main questions: 1) whether a general obligation to respect the sovereignty of other States exists, the violation of which could in itself constitute an intranational wrongful act; 2) what are criterions for a cyberoperation to be qualified as unlawful and a violation of sovereignty? Non-intervention is a fundamental principle of international law because it emanates from the principle of state sovereignty and protects certain essential aspects of this principle. More specifically, it protects the integrity and autonomy of a state’s authority and will in the sense of its capacity to internal and external self-governance. As it was confirmed by the International Court of Justice in judgement from June 27 of 1986 (Nicaragua vs. United States of America, § 205) intervention is traditionally understood as coercive interference in matters that fall within a state’s sovereign affairs such as the choice of political, economic, social and cultural system and the formulation of foreign policy. In order now to determine when interference in that process constitutes intervention, the baseline of coercion needs to be identified. In modern world such interference could consist of cyber-attacks on electoral infrastructure and operations to manipulate voting behaviour. Probably, the first example was Russia’s electoral interference in the 2016 US election.

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