Traditonal Challenges

External intervention can generally be described as invasion by other countries. For example, when
Saddam Hussein was the ruler of Iraq in 1990, he decided he was going to take over the oil fields of
Kuwait. He invaded Kuwait and took it over. As a result, he was dislodged by an International coalition
led by the United States.

These days, we can see external intervention in other forms. Russia’s external intervention into
the affairs of Ukraine, a sovereign state in post-Soviet era, is another instance of intervention in the
autonomy of the state. Russia intervenes in the affairs of people in Crimea who want to become part of
Russia again even though they are part of Ukraine. Crimea declared its independence from Ukraine and
re-affliated with Russia. This is a case of how there might be a national identity within a country that is
assisted by a neighboring country. Ukraine argues to have autonomy to determine the case for Crimea.
As a result, there is current conflict between Ukraine, not recognizing Crimea’s sovereignity, and Russia,
not recognizing Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea.

Internal political challenges can also happen. For example, after the Arab Spring in Egypt, a new
constitution was created and a government was elected. That government was more fundamentalist
and rejected the notion of a plural society that included religious diversity. The military staged a coup
that deposed the government in order to restore stability. Other examples include the Talban’s efforts
to control the government of Afghanistan. In Syria, the original rebellion against Assad came from the
country’s own internal dissenters who wanted to replace the government even though they were also
Syrian nationals.

There are also regional organizations challenging state autonomy. The United Nations
Intervened in Sudan because of the several years of civil war. More recently in Europe, specifically in
Greece, it also interfered in the Greek debt crisis.

Challenges from National/Identity Movements

The next challenges are part of a national identity or movement. It is important to know that a
nation has cultural identity that people attached to, while a state is a definite entity due to its specific
boundaries. However, different people with different identities can live in different states. For example,
the Kurds reside in several different countries including Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. The Catalans live primarily
in Spain but we can also find some of them in France. Scottish nationalism is another example that
challenges the traditional notions of state sovereignty. In 2014, Great Britain had a vote in Scotland to
decide whether Scotland was going to become its own autonomous state apart from Great Britain. They
voted against it but Scotland has a significant degree of autonomy now as compared to more than two
decades years ago.

Global movements, such as the Al-Qaeda and ISIS, are another example of national or identity
movements. In this case, they are structure around the fundamentals version of Islam.

Global Economics

The third major source of challenge comes from global economics. Global economy demands
the states to conform to the rules of free-market capitalism. Government austerity comes from
development of organization that cooperate across countries, such as WTO and regional agreements,
such as NAFTA, the European Union (EU), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Neoliberal economics or neoliberal capitalism started in the 1980’s. It focuses on free trade and
dismantling trade barriers. It made sure that governments did not impose restrictive regulations on
corporate presence, as well as on the free flow of capital and jobs. Free trade was seen as the ideal of
the normative belief, that is, the best economy is one where there is free trade everywhere. Laws and
standards, that world interfere with the flow of capital in a particular country, including environmental
regulations, were deemed to discourage economic growth. Neoliberal economics requires a state to
cooperate in the global market through the free flow of capital, the privatization of services, and fiscal
austerity or constraint. In turn, the government’s role is diminished as it relates to the market.
Neoliberal economics is seen as a threat, in general, because a state cannot protect its own economic
interest as a sovereign state.

A specific example to expand global economic influence ist he use of IMF and the World Bank in
forcing government reforms in poorer country. Furthermore, the regional economic development
efforts focused on expanding free trade and market liberalization. Business from developed countries
put their factories and pay people to build factories and produce goods in developing countries. The
exacerbates rising inequality in the world. Greece is one examples that explains how neoliberal
economics can threaten the sovereignty of a state. It began in 1981 when Greece joined the EU. As a
larger alliance, the EU broke down all kinds of barriers among its member states, Including Greece, like
passports, visas, and license plates. It allowed people to travel across European borders and encouraged
economic cooperation and collaboration of member states. Twenty years later, Greece adopted the
euro as its own currency and got rid of the drachma. The government of Greece borrowed money for
infrastructure improvements, largely linked to their hosting of the 2004 Olympics. This put Greece in a
large debt. In 2007 and 2008, the worldwide financial crisis made Greece’s economy to collapse.

Aside from high debt that burdened the government, Greece had several of its employees
struggling with pensions. Tax revenues were lower, and as a result, they could not pay their debts back
in 2009, their credit rating dropped which made it harder for them to pay back their debt. This led to a
series of austerity packages in Greece which meant that there was less government spending. IMF bailed
them out from the crisis in exchange for more austerity. In conclusion, economic crises can force
government to subscribe to the terms and conditions of the global financial market and of other nations
that can help them regain economic stability.