Another thing that has infringed on Sovereignty (particularly in regards to America (and her allies) in the so called “war against Terror“ is Terrorism. Although the official American line is not to negotiate with terrorists Terrorism most definitely has dominated not just American life but Western life ever since the Twin towers attack on the 11th of September 2001. For more than forty years President George Bush and his Republican party have objected to the U.N. as a limitation on American sovereignty. The Republicans while in Government have consistently tried to limit this infringement of Sovereignty by withholding funds legitimately due from the world’s wealthiest nation. They blocked many UN resolutions; costing an unknown number of lives. Yet since September the 11th 2001 the Republican President has embraced the United Nations as necessary to finding a resolution to the political future of Afghanistan and affirmed its role as defender of the rights of citizens everywhere (taken from http://www.uvm.edu/)
Nato is another international “peacekeeping” organisation that places limitations on actual sovereignty; Article 11 of the Italian Constitution accepts “ limitations on sovereignty that may be necessary for the enactment of provisions to ensure peace and justice among nations; it promotes and supports those international organizations working toward that end” (taken from http://www.nato.int/)
Another factor that has limited state sovereignty is the environment, global warming has necessitated the signing of environmental treaties such as the Kyoto agreement to limit CO2 emission, which as it is the main by product of industry will limit a countries economic activities directly affecting a countries economic sovereignty; “the United States too, has begun to participate in environmental agreements that do raise inescapable questions about American sovereignty." (taken from http://www.tysknews.com/).
Another way that sovereignty is infringed is by immigration. Professor Gerald Neumann said that sovereignty over immigration is “an absolute right to exclude each alien for good reasons, bad reasons, or no reasons is not inherent in sovereignty” yet rich western states especially have limited immigration sovereignty due to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants that have entered the country. The desire to keep sovereignty over immigration is very much linked to nationalism and obviously race. Many fear the invasion of hoards of foreigners which would weaken any cultural identity a nation has.
Sovereignty may also be restricted by foreign invasion, as sovereignty could be termed as 'autonomy or freedom from all external control' when a country is invaded the aggressor has sovereignty over the country that sovereignty is obviously breached as the country no longer has full freedom from external control.
A sovereign body also has restrictions placed upon it by god and the church; this is especially applicable in countries with the rule of religion and not the rule of law (normally Islamic states with Shariah religious law).Negotiators in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process have begun to discuss "religious sovereignty," wherein religious leaders would administer Jerusalem's holy sites, regardless of which nation's police patrol the streets outside (taken from http://sacred-sovereign.uchicago.edu/). States are also bound by what they can do by a Christian sense of morals; another restriction on what they can do.
Countries in Economic crisis lose part of economic sovereignty- Britain with the IMF in 1976. During the 1970’s due to high inflation the British Nation, largely due to the “large state” policies of successive Labour and Conservative governments was in danger of going Bankrupt. Upon appealing for a loan they were given conditions of the loan (reducing the UK’s economic sovereignty) demanding huge reductions in spending. “Between 1976 and 1978 public spending fell by nearly 10 percent, far more than any later Tory government managed to ram through”, which considering we had a labour government suggests that they did not have full sovereignty over the economy (taken from http://www.socialistworker.co.uk)
National Sovereignty is also reduced by Triangulation of Trade. If one government is antagonistic to another and wishes to impose a trade boycott, it is totally impossible to prevent movement of information or people for business purposes (for example during the Cold war the USA was unable to stop its citizens visiting Communist Cuba) (taken from Baylis and Smith, 2001, p367). Although it is possible to prevent the direct import or export of goods from one country to another it impossible to prevent indirect trade; for example from April 1982 (the beginning of the Falklands war) until February 1990 both the UK and Argentina made moves to block economic transactions and direct Aeroplane flights were banned. This led to goods simply being shipped to Argentina or the UK via Brazil and flights going via another Western European Capital. This is blatantly a loss of economic sovereignty (taken from Baylis and Smith, 2001, p367).
Another way that economic sovereignty may be challenged and government’s held to ransom is by regulatory arbitrage; if a trans-national country objects to a governments policy it may threaten to reduce or totally cut production locally and relocate to another country (taken from Baylis and Smith, 2001, p367). For example many British companies such as British Telecom and British Airways have relocated their call centres to India where they can provide the same service for a fraction of the price.
Another way that our economic sovereignty can be threatened is by the Stock exchange which is the key to our economy and yet has the power of self regulation and enforcing any breaches of regulation.
Nuclear technology also infringes upon a countries sovereignty: if one country doesn’t act properly with their nuclear reactors it will affect many other countries, infringing on their sovereignty. An example of this would be the 1986 Chernobyl disaster where the main reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the USSR blew up due to poor maintenance. After Chernobyl a radioactive plume was blown all over Europe and deposited by rain after the accident in 1986 (taken from http://www.ratical.org), especially over Northern Wales. As a result of this Sheep in Glamorgan were removed from the food chain due to the high levels of radioactivity in their blood.
The sovereignty of smaller states can also be infringed by that of large states, for instance the United States infringement of the sovereignty of numerous smaller Caribbean nations including Jamaica. This infringement can be attributed to Narcotics policy; the United States insists that pursuits of drug dealers either by Air or sea should be allowed to continue even if it means entering Jamaican airspace and territorial waters without receiving Jamaican permission (taken from Griffith, 1997, pp21-22)
Sovereignty is without a doubt a relative concept, indeed many could question whether there is actually such a thing as sovereignty when there are so many challenges to its mere being.
Bibliography:
* Baylis, J. Smith, S. “The Globalisation of World Politics: an introduction to international relations” (2001) Oxford: Oxford University Press
* Heywood, A. “Political Theory: an introduction” (1999) London: MacMillan
* Griffith, I, L. “Drugs and Security in the Caribbean: Sovereignty under siege” (1997). Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press
* http://www.uvm.edu/~sgutman/The_Aftermath_of_Terror.html taken on 12th January 2004 at 15:26
* http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/1806/sw180613.htm taken on 12th January 2004 at 15:49
* http://www.nato.int/docu/review/1993/9302-2.htm taken on 17th January 2004 at 16:53
* http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/New_World_Order/growing_peril_to_us_sovereignty.htm taken on 17th January 2004 at 15:43
* http://www.ratical.org/radiation/Chernobyl/060700.html taken on 18th January at 18:43
* http://sacred-sovereign.uchicago.edu/owens.html taken on 19th January 19:25
