PR1500 Sovereignty What is sovereignty? · Sovereignty is ubiquitous in political speech, it "locates supreme legal and political authority within territorially delimited states" McGrew, 2011 1933 Montevideo convention sets our certain prerequisites: · Territory · People · Government · RECOGNITION Types of sovereignty (Krasner 1999) Domestic sovereignty-exercise domestic control Interdependence sovereignty- control trans-border movements Legal sovereignty- being acknowledged as a state Westphalian sovereignty 1648- exclude external actors from domestic power (exclude foreign influence) Two main aspects: internal and external (interdependent) sovereignty Internal sovereignty Yes No External sovereignty Yes Ideal state Weak/failing state No state without recognition failed state Internal sovereignty (Westphalian and domestic) · The state as a sovereign actor within its borders · State monopoly of force WEBER 1918 · Effective control of territory and population External sovereignty (legal and interdependence) · Treated equal to other states · Effective control of borders · Representation on an international level Why are some states more sovereign than others?
· Weak or failed states are often not capable of adhering to international commitments therefore don't have international/ legal sovereignty · However international organizations such as the UN and the EU can undermine sovereignty as well. Such as the EU having exclusive power over monetary policy. · Sometimes this "equality" is ignored or abdicated in world politics (Krasner's organized hypocrisy). · Waltz, 1979 acknowledged that "all societies are organized hierarchically in greater or lesser degree", therefore the more powerful states will have authority over the less powerful states, meaning that some states are move sovereign than others. · Hierarchy is found within the imperialist theory where the west gains hyper sovereignty to intervene in eastern states, which have only conditional sovereignty or no sovereignty at all. Western realists argue that third world polities should not be granted sovereignty but instead conditional sovereignty (Hobson, 2012) as the states should only be recognized if they treat their own population fairly and abide by human right law. · An example of power and its influence on sovereignty is China Aid. It's helping African countries build infrastructure in exchange for resources and in order to assert its position on a global scale · Totalitarian governments don't allow the free flow of media such as North Korea. This is blocking external influences and conserving domestic authority over state territory. · Secondly, some states such as Cuba still enforce communist ideologies therefore neo-liberal free flowing capitalism does not affect the sovereignty of the nation. · Doreen Massey concluded that globalization has brought Oceans together but also has caused a decline in shipping which has increased the isolation of many island communities such as Pit cairn in the pacific. This means that the forces of globalization do not undermine its sovereignty. In extreme cases, measures are taken by the international community · Fighting maritime piracy in Somali waters · Foreign recognition of Libyan National Transitional Council NTC prior to 2011 intervention Membership in the UN is a clear signal of external sovereignty as it is recognition of the sovereign statehood