1

Soraya Mwangi

Ben Fugill

Global Politics

10 November 2020

1) Examine the claim that increased interactions and interconnectedness in global

politics have fundamentally changed the nature of state sovereignty.

The frequency of interactions and interconnectedness in the global politics

sphere has increased in such a great capacity that it has become almost impossible

for states to protect their sovereignty from international opinion. With the increase

of non-state and state actors such as NGOs, MNCs and IGOs, whose rise is related

to the liberalization of global politics, we see factors that affect the nature of

sovereignty. With the modern definition of sovereignty needing other states to

recognize the status of the state as sovereign, things like the Peace of Westphalia’s

(1648) definition of a sovereign state begins to be questioned. While some states

cling onto the old way of defining sovereignty, others have already cast that aside.

The rise of IGOs has changed the way we look at state sovereignty, as

organizations like the UN have redefined how countries interact with each other.

The old Wesphilia treaty definition of sovereignty doesn't prevent the UN from

interfering with countries affairs, particularly if those affairs infringe on human

rights. While the basic definition of sovereignty was “Unrestricted control over

domestic affairs' ' (Sovereignty slides), states apart of the UN do not have that
 2

liberty. One of the many examples of this is when they intervened in Syria in 2012 to

help with the Syrian civil war. As an IGO, the UN has repeatedly intervened in order

to keep the peace, and as time goes on, they will only continue to intervene further.

In the words of Franco Frattini, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy “By helping to

implement this decision in military, diplomatic and, and humanitarian terms, we

shifted from a culture of sovereign impunity to one of responsible sovereignty,

rooted in national and international accountability for the most serious violations of

human rights.”(UN News). IGOs like the UN are a prime example of the rise of

liberalism in global politics, as it pushes for an approach on sovereignty that

prioritizes interconnectedness and international approval.

The increased influence MNCS have states is also a newer effect of the

interconnectedness of today's world. With oil companies constantly getting into

tiffs with governments, and companies like Disney effectively working as a soft

power for the United states, being one of the ways they manage to stay a modern

day hegemony, the average multinational billion dollar corporation can effectively

dig its claws into the inner workings of states. An example of this would be ALEC,

the American Legislative Exchange Council. Labelled as an NGO, it’s membership is

made of politicians, law makers, corporations and MNCS. A deadly cocktail of

members, as MNCS can suggest laws that can effectively boost their sales and

personal interest, taking advantage of the US and it’s government. This is dangerous

to the state’s sovereignty, as MNCs are multinational, and could propose laws that

from a capitalist standpoint, are beneficial, but the US is not a business and it’s
 3

government can’t really afford to run it like one. An example of ALEC pushing its

members interests would be the Walmart scandal, in which Walmart and

corporations left ALEC after it was revealed that Walmart pushed for laws that loses

gun control, increased their gun sales and put in place the stand your ground law

that allowed Trayvon Martin’s murderer to get off scot free. MNCs are not bound

like politicians are to have the people's best interests at heart and to allow

corporations within ties to other countries to make decisions about laws effectively

undermines traditional sovereignty. NGOs have links to loads of IGOS and have

generally made the greatest impact in areas such as the environment, women's

rights and human rights in general. By using media and lobbying, they push

governments towards the UNs agenda. NGOs are usually weak in states or pose as

opposition to the government. In general, NGOs typically lack power on their own,

but they assist.

While some may see the way interconnectedness has changed the world view

on sovereignty as always having a positive effect, there are always instances where

this new way of looking at it disadvantages some states. Taiwan as an example

struggles to be recognized as a sovereign state by the majority of the international

community, and this fact bars it from organizations like the UN, which sees it as a

province of China despite it having all the necessary requirements to be sovereign

minus majority international approval. Interconnectedness has changed

sovereignty, as the world has adapted to allowing IGOs and MNCs to have power in

ways that they previously did not. As long as the world continues down the path of
 4

embracing a more liberalist way of going about global politics, states' ability to

define sovereignty themselves will keep changing.