Samenvatting

Norms play an important role in international relations. Norms shape behaviour and provide a shared understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. One of the pillars of international relations is sovereignty. The norm of state sovereignty encompasses the norm of territorial integrity. Large-scale interstate wars have been exceptional since the end of the Second World War because of the significance placed on state sovereignty and its contribution to the stability of the international system. By invading and even incorporating parts of Ukraine, Russia severely violated Ukraine’s sovereignty. This article examines the grounds on which Russian President Vladimir Putin justifies the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. By looking into the mechanisms on how the significance of norms can decrease, an assessment is made on how the war in Ukraine could weaken the norm of state sovereignty. Giving in to Russian demands would broaden the grounds on which state sovereignty can be infringed upon. A weakened norm of state sovereignty could lower the threshold for future infringements of the territorial integrity in other parts of the world as well.