The existence of so called ‘weak states’, such states lack legitimacy and find it difficult to exercise any control or power within their own borders, they often find themselves confronting insurgents or rebels who are trying to overthrow them and replace the regime with a tyrannical dictatorship style of government, this may lead to neighbouring states taking advantage of the vulnerability caused by the domestic problems within a state, such states may collapse and be classified as one of the so called ‘failed states’, it wasn’t until the events of September 11th 2001 that such states have come to the forefront of international politics, where as previously such states had been looked at purely through a humanitarian lens, western states have now realised that the problems in other states can have direct affects on them as it is now clear that they are a threat to national security as terrorist groups can thrive in countries where the government exercises very little control within their own borders, such lawfulness abroad can result in extremist groups, which resulted in the USA and her allies taking military action against Afghanistan in January 2002 in direct response to Al Qaeda attacks on Washington and new York, despite the fact that Afghanistan wasn’t directly responsible for the attacks, it is accepted though that military action is appropriate if a state is seen as intentionally been neglectant and allowing terrorist organisations to operate within its borders, it is now felt that states don’t have the automatic rights of been sovereign and that they have certain obligations to uphold, for instance they must follow the principles of international law, if they are found to be in conflict with international law then the result maybe military action taken by UN member states.
The processes and outcomes of globalization have real effects on the sovereignty of states, the process of globalisation increases the permeability of national borders to the rapid flow of goods, people, information and capital, the result of this is that states can no longer keep their borders closed as this would be economically disastrous, it is fair to say that there is clear interdependence of economies, this processes is primarily driven by non state actors such as TNC’s whom therefore operate outside the control of national governments, there are both positive and negative outcomes that come about from globalisations, the negative outcomes for instance the growth in telecommunications most noticeably the growth of the internet over the past decade which can link terrorist groups, globalisation therefore needs to be regulated and controlled and this means that states must co-operate to solve mutual problems, this is necessary to protect the interest of each state, for instance since September 11th there has been much cooperation between states to try and reduce terrorist activity particularly in so called problem regions, collective security is now the best way to protect your own sovereignty.
The delegation of sovereignty is also seen as a playing a major impact on the political power of so called sovereign states, this is happening at two levels, firstly through devolution as we have seen in the UK since 1999, where the national parliament has granted certain delegated powers to both Scotland, Wales and northern Ireland in the case of Scotland, the Scottish parliament has actual law making powers and can be said to be sovereign in domestic policy, however it is still represented on the international stage by Westminster which still makes foreign policy and defence policy for the entire UK.
Secondly there is multilateral cooperation, which has to distinguish between foreign and domestic, whereby economies become more integrated due to the spread of global markets. The cooperation within the EU highlights this change perfectly, never before has cooperation between nations been so great, there exists a single currency which all of the major European powers (other than the United Kingdom) have opted into, this is unquestionably a huge delegation of economic power, as member states have to operate within set economic targets and policies, for instance there is a uniform interest rate which all must stick to. The proposed European constitution will further strengthen the European parliament which already has so called ‘sovereignty’ in certain policy areas, the common agriculture policy for instance which many resent and feel is a waste of money and yet however much we may dislike it we must adhere to it as long as we are members of the European Union, whilst theoretically we can pull out and therefore EU policy wouldn’t affect us, in effect such is the integration and the dependence of Trading with our European partners that economically it would be disastrous to pull out, however at present such close cooperation exists only in Europe.
Whilst there is no international government there is such thing as international law and it is expected that states if they which to remain sovereign must abide by such laws, for instance genocide and victimisation of certain groups is under international law illegal, the international community feels that it has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of states where it feels that such illegal action is been taken
As UN secretary Kofi Annan declared in September 1999, "States bent on criminal behaviour Know that frontiers are not an absolute defence that massive And systematic violations of human rights wherever they may take place
Should not be allowed to stand’ such an instance where the international community felt that there was a violation of human rights occurred in 1999 in Serbia, president Milosevic was believed to be responsible for genocide of kosovans the result was that NATO took military action against the Serbian government and forced them to concede that what they were doing had been wrong.
States feel that they have the right to take pre emptive action against states that they feel are threatening global security, for instance if a state is known to have a violent past and are now knowingly pursing the development of WMDs then states may take action to prevent a threat becoming a reality, the war in iraq was founded on this basis as this is seen as a legal course of action.
The development of global problems, such as global warming has lead to greater cooperation between states to tackle so called global problems, the kyto protocol despite the fact that the USA opted out is an example of this.
Whilst the nature sovereignty has undoubtley changed over the years, it is not to say that it no longer exists, international law exists and as long as states adhere to this then they will remain free from direct intervention from other states, the development of global market forces has meant that cooperation between states is necessary, as the integration of economies as well as the need to have friends on the international stage, sovereignty remains strongest in the so called super power nations, for instance America has shown It will act on its own and has withdrawn from certain international protocols which others have joined, it remains at the discretion of each nation as to what they are involved in, its just that most states feel cooperation is in there best interests.