A country, or a state, is a sovereign autonomy when it completely self-governs, ie. it decides on its own rules and laws, and enforces these rules and laws, independently, and there is no external higher authority that could overrule or impose its own laws onto the country and its government.
Sovereign autonomy is an extraordinarily important concept in world politics and international relationships, and is taken extremely seriously. For example, if the military forces of one sovereign country, without permission, cross the internationally recognized borders of another sovereign country and enter the region governed by that country, this will almost invariably cause a political incident. Even if it's just a military plane entering the airspace of another country, without permission nor announcement, by just a few hundred meters, for less than a minute, it will cause an incident. At a very minimum, the government of the country whose airspace was breached will contact the government of the offending country and demand an explanation. The military of the country whose borders were breached might go to some kind of increased level of alert, at least until the situation has been settled via diplomacy.
State borders are considered pretty much sacred. They cannot be changed nor moved unless by mutual agreement of both countries sharing the border (and even when this extremely rarely happens, it usually requires extraordinary amounts of bureaucracy and diplomatic agreements.) Most commonly country borders have changed due to the two countries being at war, rather than by agreement, which is of course extremely serious business. One sovereign country willingly conceding land area to another is a huge deal, and happens extremely rarely, as every square inch of land is considered pretty much sacred. One sovereign country itself splitting and becoming two independent sovereign autonomies is also always a huge deal, and requires severe political turmoil within the country.
One distinguishing characteristic of a sovereign autonomy is that the law of the land, and its enforcement, applies to the entire country, to every part of it. In some cases some countries may have internally agreed for part of the country to be semi-autonomous to one degree or another, but this is always done via agreement. Also, foreign embassies within a country are the result of a political agreement between two countries, where the hosting country agrees that it has only limited jurisdiction over the premises of the embassy. Other than these cases, every single square inch of the country that's governed by the government, is under the same laws, rules and regulations, and the same enforcement of the law.
This means that there is no place in the country where law enforcement has no right to go, if the law allows them to do so. In most free democratic countries all public places are free for anybody to go to, obviously including law enforcement officials. The police, in the performance of their duties, such as patrolling the streets, is free to go to every public space to do so, without restrictions and limitations.
In other words, the jurisdiction of the police is everywhere, with the exception of the abovementioned embassies.
The so-called "no-go zones" are becoming more and more prevalent in several European countries. Many of them already exist in countries like Sweden and Denmark, and are appearing in increasing rates in other countries as well. These are areas, typically city suburbs, that the police are not free to enter, even though they are fully public spaces, and very much under their legal jurisdiction. Police officers willingly refuse to enter these areas, especially alone, even if it would be part of their duty to do so. These are special areas that are different from all other areas of the country.
Very typically people in these no-go zones will largely ignore the law of the land, and have their own "laws" which they use to govern themselves. Quite often these "laws" are in direct contradiction with the law of the land, and would never be enforceable.
This is a glaring breach of the sovereign authority of the country. When there is an area inside a country where police jurisdiction is limited, in other words, pretty much an enclave of a foreign power within the country, and this is not a foreign embassy for which the country has an agreement with another country, it means that the sovereignty of the country has been compromised. It is, in principle, no different from conceding a land area to a foreign power. Part of the country has been surrendered to a power outside the government of the country.
When the military forces of a neighboring country breach the borders, it's taken as a very serious incident. Yet when parts of the country gain de facto independence from the jurisdiction of the government, not only is this largely ignored by the government, but in fact they are pretty much willingly doing so and allowing it to happen.
The normal procedure to deal with a portion of the country becoming ungovernable is to first deploy law enforcement to restore the rule of law, and if that fails, to deploy the military to take back the area. This is exactly what the military exists for. In most countries it's their entire raison d'être.
Yet, these countries are not doing anything like that. They are willingly ignoring the problem. They are willingly allowing their own sovereignty to be compromised.
Sovereign autonomy is an extraordinarily important concept in world politics and international relationships, and is taken extremely seriously. For example, if the military forces of one sovereign country, without permission, cross the internationally recognized borders of another sovereign country and enter the region governed by that country, this will almost invariably cause a political incident. Even if it's just a military plane entering the airspace of another country, without permission nor announcement, by just a few hundred meters, for less than a minute, it will cause an incident. At a very minimum, the government of the country whose airspace was breached will contact the government of the offending country and demand an explanation. The military of the country whose borders were breached might go to some kind of increased level of alert, at least until the situation has been settled via diplomacy.
State borders are considered pretty much sacred. They cannot be changed nor moved unless by mutual agreement of both countries sharing the border (and even when this extremely rarely happens, it usually requires extraordinary amounts of bureaucracy and diplomatic agreements.) Most commonly country borders have changed due to the two countries being at war, rather than by agreement, which is of course extremely serious business. One sovereign country willingly conceding land area to another is a huge deal, and happens extremely rarely, as every square inch of land is considered pretty much sacred. One sovereign country itself splitting and becoming two independent sovereign autonomies is also always a huge deal, and requires severe political turmoil within the country.
One distinguishing characteristic of a sovereign autonomy is that the law of the land, and its enforcement, applies to the entire country, to every part of it. In some cases some countries may have internally agreed for part of the country to be semi-autonomous to one degree or another, but this is always done via agreement. Also, foreign embassies within a country are the result of a political agreement between two countries, where the hosting country agrees that it has only limited jurisdiction over the premises of the embassy. Other than these cases, every single square inch of the country that's governed by the government, is under the same laws, rules and regulations, and the same enforcement of the law.
This means that there is no place in the country where law enforcement has no right to go, if the law allows them to do so. In most free democratic countries all public places are free for anybody to go to, obviously including law enforcement officials. The police, in the performance of their duties, such as patrolling the streets, is free to go to every public space to do so, without restrictions and limitations.
In other words, the jurisdiction of the police is everywhere, with the exception of the abovementioned embassies.
The so-called "no-go zones" are becoming more and more prevalent in several European countries. Many of them already exist in countries like Sweden and Denmark, and are appearing in increasing rates in other countries as well. These are areas, typically city suburbs, that the police are not free to enter, even though they are fully public spaces, and very much under their legal jurisdiction. Police officers willingly refuse to enter these areas, especially alone, even if it would be part of their duty to do so. These are special areas that are different from all other areas of the country.
Very typically people in these no-go zones will largely ignore the law of the land, and have their own "laws" which they use to govern themselves. Quite often these "laws" are in direct contradiction with the law of the land, and would never be enforceable.
This is a glaring breach of the sovereign authority of the country. When there is an area inside a country where police jurisdiction is limited, in other words, pretty much an enclave of a foreign power within the country, and this is not a foreign embassy for which the country has an agreement with another country, it means that the sovereignty of the country has been compromised. It is, in principle, no different from conceding a land area to a foreign power. Part of the country has been surrendered to a power outside the government of the country.
When the military forces of a neighboring country breach the borders, it's taken as a very serious incident. Yet when parts of the country gain de facto independence from the jurisdiction of the government, not only is this largely ignored by the government, but in fact they are pretty much willingly doing so and allowing it to happen.
The normal procedure to deal with a portion of the country becoming ungovernable is to first deploy law enforcement to restore the rule of law, and if that fails, to deploy the military to take back the area. This is exactly what the military exists for. In most countries it's their entire raison d'être.
Yet, these countries are not doing anything like that. They are willingly ignoring the problem. They are willingly allowing their own sovereignty to be compromised.
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