"Sovereignty must not be used for inflicting harm on anyone, whether citizen or foreigner"

Ludwig von Mises’s assertion, “Sovereignty must not be used for inflicting harm on anyone, whether citizen or foreigner”, reflects a profound ethical limitation on the legitimate power of states. Sovereignty typically confers upon a state the ultimate authority within its borders, granting it the right to make laws, enforce order, and conduct foreign affairs free from external interference. Yet, Mises sharply contends that this power has strict moral boundaries.

He extends the prohibition of harm beyond a state’s own population to all human beings, irrespective of nationality or legal status. Implicit is the principle that state action is not justified simply because it occurs under the rubric of sovereign authority. True legitimacy, for Mises, requires that sovereignty serve the purpose of protecting individual rights rather than enabling arbitrary or coercive acts. Using the shield of sovereignty to excuse violence, discrimination, unjust confiscations, or aggression against others, be they within the nation or outside its borders, undermines the ethical foundation upon which political order ought to rest.

Moreover, Mises’s words rebuke both domestic oppression (harms against citizens) and xenophobia or bellicosity (harms against foreigners). He reminds us that the moral equality of persons is not dissipated by geographical or political boundaries. National borders do not dissolve the state’s responsibility to uphold human rights universally; nor should there be a double standard that excuses violence or injustice depending on a person’s origin.

His statement can also be read as an implicit rejection of the doctrines of absolute state immunity and the realist view that “might makes right” in international relations. Instead, Mises argues for a framework of law and ethics that applies across all human interactions, regardless of location or status. The legitimate exercise of sovereignty, then, always implies respect for others’ basic rights and the continual restraint of state power, ensuring it is never an instrument of harm against any individual.