Globalization and State Sovereignty

POL-331: Pakistan’s Foreign Relations

Saeel Abbas

2016-02-0279

Q.) Globalization is eroding the traditional concept of state sovereignty. Some analysts contend that state sovereignty will be unrecognizable by the end of the century, except for the Big Powers. Assess this contention and draw your own conclusions.

The current global scenario presents a fine version of sovereign states exercising their rights over their respective territories. The Montevideo Convention signed in 1933 codified the rights and duties of a sovereign state. It set out the four criteria for statehood mentioning that:

“The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”^[1]

Sovereignty is the basic element on which the whole idea of statehood is based. Henry Wheaton in his book, ‘Elements of international law: with a sketch of the history of the science’ says that, “A sovereign state is generally defined to be any nation or people, whatever may be the form of its internal constitution, which governs itself independently of foreign powers.”^[2] The last part of Henry Wheaton’s statement emphasizes on how a nation state has the right and power to act independently for its territorial jurisdiction. This is the fundamental concept of sovereignty which allows states to form policies and make decisions without any external influence. But gone are the days when states could act blindfolded to external environment and global situations. The increasing dependency among states is most evident in the 21st century, and is something that can no longer be ignored. The strengthening of linkages between nations is a direct product of the phenomenon of globalization that changed the dynamics of a modern-day state. Globalization has gained vital importance and its effects can neither be ignored nor left unattended. This paper seeks to identify challenges posed by globalization and disentangle the issue of globalization and the infringement of state sovereignty. The formation of multilateral international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, United Nations and the World Trade Organization has altered the scope of state authority. The effects of cross-border terrorism, in the wake of global television and the internet, are crucial to be analyzed. It is inevitable that the traditional norms of state sovereignty are being undermined by exponential increase in globalization, but to what extent can they actually diminish the significance of state authority is a question worth asking.

It is often contended as to when globalization really came up as a notion. A lot of historians consider it as a 20th century phenomenon. But it is safe to assume that the globalization has roots that date back to the famous Industrial Revolution which took place in England during the 19th century. One of the key planks of the Industrial Revolution was the transport revolution that initiated the likes of steam engine and more importantly, discovery of the telegraph. Telegraph was a key to this revolution. Using the telegraph, governments and merchants could reach out to far flung areas and extract information that was previously unavailable. These factors led to a boom in trade activity carried out by Britain so much so that the government even abolished the infamous Corn Laws in 1846 and hence opened up its economy to a free trade zone(f). Daron Acemoğlu and James A. Robinson in their book ‘Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty’ mentioned how the Industrial Revolution acted as a “Turning Point” for Britain to transform its economy and reach out to the outside world.^[3] Technological advancements in the 20th century, such as the World Wide Web and access to global television, acted as a catalyst to interlink regions. Nation states are now connected to each other like never before. Although the economic benefits presented through greater globalization seem impressive, it is argued that economic gains might actually come at the expense of sovereignty.