Examine the claim that increased interactions and interconnectedness in global

politics have fundamentally changed the nature of state sovereignty. Introduction:

Sovereignty is defined as a states ability to rule itself. States are considered sovereign when
the have full control and authority over what happens inside their borders.
States should ultimately respect the sovereignty of other states as well as maintain
and defend their own sovereignty. A common argument in global politics is that state
sovereignty is being weakened by political, economic and cultural
globalization. International organizations, international trade, multinational corporations
and global terrorist networks are challenging state sovereignty. The claim can be argued
using two opposing theories. For realists, states are still the most important actors on
the world stage, able to act independently to protect their borders. For liberals, states still
exist but cooperate with each other on political and economic matters because they
believe that states maximize their security and prosperity by pooling rather than
defending their sovereignty. Arguments for the claim: Pooling: States are loosing influence
through the pooling of some aspects of their sovereignty. Borders are decreasing in
significance particularly in the European union, border checks between states are
disappearing due to the Schengen agreement. Cross border issues: States are affected by
issues that cross border more often such as climate change, global terrorism and
migration. Which requires increasing cooperation and action across state
boundaries which may place limitations of state activity and sovereignty. Like the refugee
crisis in Syria. Globalization: Economic globalization is reducing the economic
importance of states. Many states are reducing trade barriers and are joining trade
agreements such as the Trans Pacific partnership in cooperation with the EU. There is now
increasing movement for people and goods. The CNN effect. IGO’s and MNC’s The rise
of non state actors and the increasing interconnectedness of the world has challenges
to state power and sovereignty, as individual states now have less control. IGO’s are
becoming more numerous and more powerful. One of the most powerfull being
the EU, which has supranational powers with the ability to make laws
andenforce them on their member states. It is the same with multinational
corporationswho also have a lot of power, and in in some cases wealthier than
states, and canf o r c e s t a t e s t o c h a n g e t h e i r e c o n o m i c p o l i c i e s i n r e t u r n f o r
i n v e s t m e n t . W h e r e increased specialization in the economic organization of the world
means that statesare no longer self sufficient in many areas but are dependent on each
other for vitalsupplies and services.
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