Sovereignty is usually understood as a legal status: a state is recognized, possesses territory and institutions of government, and formally has the right to make decisions independently. Yet in today's international system, that definition is no longer sufficient. Formal independence does not always mean that a country is genuinely able to pursue its chosen policy without critical dependence on external suppliers, financial infrastructure, technologies, military support, or information platforms.
The Burke Index (BI), developed by the International Burke Institute, is built around this distinction. Its purpose is not to assess whether a country's political course is "right," how democratic it is, or how much international influence it enjoys. The index attempts to measure something different: the range of decisions a state can make independently, implement in practice, and sustain when those decisions impose external costs.
