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THEME THREE

THEME THREE. SOVEREIGNTY. GLOBALIZATION. REGIONALIZATION. The Changing Nature of. Sovereignty. What is it?. It is the set of rules that govern our lives because we are all citizens of some place. It is the endpoint of law. No body above the sovereign state has any rights over you.

uriel-woodard
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THEME THREE

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  1. THEME THREE SOVEREIGNTY GLOBALIZATION REGIONALIZATION

  2. The Changing Nature of Sovereignty

  3. What is it? • It is the set of rules that govern our lives because we are all citizens of some place. It is the endpoint of law. No body above the sovereign state has any rights over you. • It defines the players in relations across the globe: international • Diplomacy, Treaties, etc.

  4. Symbols of Sovereignty

  5. Where did it come from? • Originally the term sovereignty referred to the sovereign, or ruler who was the head of the “state” so it referred to a person. X Indeed, through most of history the ruler was the law, and the US was one of the first states to set that aside firmly

  6. Some Key Events in Creating “modern” Sovereignty The rise of the “nation state” challenging the old Empires. The US was never a nation state; France is, and that led to a lot of historical conflicts within their revolution, leading eventually to its failure. The revolutions of 1848 generally failed, but were the “shape of things to come” Created the need for institutions “above the state” to counter (a) national rivalries, (b) national versus global interests. So, we got the United Nations and the European Union. The main challenge for our age is globalization Finished off the old multi-national empires like Austria-Hungary. Great outburst of “nation states” on the principles of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points. Introduced the role of the state “above” the individual—fascism did the same thing. The Origin of the Modern Secular State The origins of the Liberal Democratic State (“We The People”) • The Treaty of Westphalia, 1648 • The American Revolution: 1776 • The French Revolution, 1789 • The Revolutions of 1848 • World War 1, 1914-1918 • The Russian Revolution of 1917 • World War 2, 1939-1945 • The formation of the EU 1957 Failed experiment in new type of state, but too many conflicting philosophies—a thinker’s revolution, not a practical man’s revolution.

  7. Sovereignty is not an Absolute • The version of sovereignty we have today was not always there. Before that states came and went with marriages, wars etc • Then in 1648, as the nation state was beginning to emerge, a treaty: The Treaty of Westphalia, was signed establishing the “rules” for the new, secular states. • What were these rules?

  8. Before the “Nation State?” The Church was over everything, but there was an increasing struggle to co-opt the church (warrior popes), and eventually the break came with Protestantism and Martin Luther

  9. Shifting Allegiances Everything was subject to the approval, or sanction, of the Papacy and the Catholic Church. Previously, you were as likely to belong to somebody as to some place, under feudalism. And marriages and wars constantly shifted boundaries. Much of France, for instance, was English.

  10. This is Italy as late as 1850. A mass of small states pulled together or set apart by alliances. But the people would all call themselves “Italian,” because they shared a common language, culture and the history of Rome.

  11. And this was Germany before 1871

  12. A Definition • “The supreme, absolute power by which any independent state is governed; supreme political authority; the self-sufficient source of political power from which all other political powers are derived; the right of regulating its internal affairs without foreign dictation; the supreme right to make laws and execute them, to raise and collect taxes, and the right to make war and treaties.” Sovereignty has nothing To do with the type of Government

  13. Republic of San Marino The “Rules” of Sovereignty • In International Relations, a sovereign state is the equal of any other sovereign state. • It is in control of a specified and agreed territory • It has the right to make law and declare war, to issue money • Over time, the sovereignty of the nation moved from the monarch to the people through their representatives—something the US pioneered Size has Nothing to Do with Sovereignty Russia

  14. For Instance…. • The United States went to war, along with the members of the UN, against Iraq in 1990 because Iraq invaded the sovereignty of Kuwait. • This was a clear violation of the “rules of sovereignty”

  15. Remember what we said… • The real problem comes when you have to deal with places that do not “fit,” or “play by” the rules. • Those countries which have sovereignty, but can’t exercise it (Somalia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Colombia…) • Those countries that practice “sovereignty” but have no right to it (North Cyprus, Taiwan—in China’s eyes)

  16. Here’s a Grade A Sovereignty Problem--Taiwan As China became more and more important in US trade and world affairs, it seemed ridiculous not to recognize it, and so we did. On the other hand we still recognize the rights of Taiwan, accept its passport. In 1979 the US transferred recognition to the PRC but pased the Taiwan Relations Act Public Law 96-8 96th Congress For a long time, the US supported Taiwan. But PR China would not have diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the sovereignty of Taiwan In 1949 there was a Communist revolution in China, and the previous government was forced to flee to the island province of Taiwan So, is it, or isn’t it, a country? It functions like one, we treat it like one, but it had better not try to declare independence. So, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Maybe, Taiwan and China will form some relationship like that between PRC and Hong Kong Taiwan continued to claim that it was the legitimate government of all China, while the Communists claimed that Taiwan was a province of the P R China In Nov 03 the Taiwan government voted to give the people the right to vote for Independence

  17. Challenges to Traditional Sovereignty • Globalization and the need for global management and regulation • The rise of the multi-national corporation • The emergence of indefinable political units, mainly the European Union—is it a state or not? • The emergence of Rogue, Phantom and Failed States • The Global village breaking down nationalism?

  18. Challenges to Sovereignty • Some writers are talking about “globalization as the end of the Nation State.” Is it? Probably not

  19. One View of the Future This is Strobe Talbot, Deputy Secretary of State under Pres. Clinton, who made the following, rather remarkable observation: All countries are basically social arrangements…No matter how permanent and even sacred they may seem at one time, in fact they are all artificial and temporary…Within the next 100 years…nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority.

  20. Who are the big players? Who has the power? Is it countries or companies? As of Nov. 2007, the largest company in the world is PetroChina

  21. Who Rules? • To whom, and where, do these companies belong? How do you regulate them? Are they becoming more powerful than states? • How might this happen? • Does it matter?

  22. The New Middle East? Who is calling the Shots in the Mid-East?

  23. OK, and what does this mean for the USA? It is ready to open its borders to trade, but nothing more--not like the E U. It regards all "alliances" as temporary, otherwise they would compromise U S Sovereignty • Interestingly, although it is not a typical “nation state” by any stretch of the imagination, the USA is the country most concerned about protecting all aspects of its sovereignty • For instance It distrusts multilateral organizations because they limit the US' Freedom of Action

  24. Where does this put us? The countries of Europe, on the other hand, individually, are not big enough to balance the USA, and so they have been giving up sovereignty to the EU steadily for the last 50 years Right now, we have problems with the UN and NATO because they could have constrained our policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, following a flagrant attack on our sovereignty (9/11) This is why European, and most other countries prefer to use the MULTILATERAL institutions, because all countries in the UN, for instance, have the same standing—one country, one vote. The big difference between the US and other places right now, when we are talking about sovereignty, is that the US is so large and powerful that it can impose its ideas on the rest of the world

  25. And the future???? The European Federation The Federal USA • Our closest allies are giving up sovereignty, but really only moving it into something that could, eventually, look like the USA—A Federal, or Confederal, Europe. • The US, Given what we have said about the vital importance of continuity the Americans feel, is unlikely to move away from its jealous protection of national sovereignty. The Russian Federation "A day will come when all nations on our continent will form a European brotherhood…A day will come when we shall see… the United States of America and the United States of Europe face to face, reaching out for each other across the seas." Victor Hugo - 1848 ? ? Is this the future? A Confederal African Union? The Expanded $ Zone ?

  26. Key Sovereignty Questions for the USA • Can we hang on to our “traditional concepts” of sovereignty while the rest of the world changes? Is this why we are classed as a “Unilateralist bully?”

  27. Key Sovereignty Questions for the USA • Can you “manage” global-level problems at the nation-state level? Even if you are the USA? Is this how others see us?

  28. Key Sovereignty Questions for the USA • What to do about all the countries whose sovereignty can be co-opted by gangsters, terrorists etc? Do we still recognize them as “sovereign nations?” • The French think that we are the #1 Rogue State. • Whatever, we have to learn to control holes in the solidarity of collective security

  29. Well, we are winning some new friends How ya'all doin?

  30. The Key Issue • The US is an ultra-conservative country, in terms of its Constitution, Institutions of State etc. • The changes swirl around us, but the basic American principles do not shift. That has always set us apart. • To us, sovereignty is bound up with a sacred purpose: Liberty, as embodied in the US Constitution. Any expansion of Multilateralism is seen as compromising that. This will put us at odds with the rest of the world, and increasingly so.

  31. One Irony The position of the US in relation to the world, may be very similar to that of the American Indian to the Federal Republic.

  32. Follow up • In the EU USA discussion we compared the two parts of the world. Here are some 2004 figures that provide an interesting insight.

  33. And, the Divided world. Patents are The future

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