What is International Studies - International Relations

INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS

1
Is Sovereignty an outdated political principle?
World politics has changed and this change in the world politics have changed the dynamics
in different nations. It also has impact on the internal policies of any particular nation.
Sovereignty is understood as the full right and power of the governing body over itself
without any kind of interference from the external bodies. In the political terms it is
understood as a substantive term that is associated with designating of supreme authority over
some polity. In the international law, the concept of sovereignty is understood as the exercise
of the power by any state. Sovereignty is something that has helped the political environment
in any nation to not get affected by the international politics and the change in the
environment (Moses, 2014). In the past there were two kinds of political discussion whether
any external factor is challenging the sovereignty in any nation. This helped any country to
become an ideal state where the control of its boundaries lies in power holders of the country
itself. Nations have fought wars in the past just to protect the sovereignty of theirs. It has
been seen that stronger political powers have threatened the sovereignty of the weaker
political states and this is the major reason why sovereignty has been in the centre of the
political principles in any nation (Ţuţuianu, 2012). Due to threat of sovereignty the concepts
such as equality of the nations have become unrealistic and dysfunctional. In this essay there
will be analysis about the fact that for the modern day politics has sovereignty has shifted
towards being an outdated principle.
There are several principles related to politics in this sovereignty and nationalism had been
one of the most famous of them. Sovereignty has been used in the nation as support theory
for nationalism which has been the greater political force to unite to the people. Since the
theories and principles of politics have understood that without nationalism it is hard to bind
the state and hence showing the fear of the sovereignty is very much critical for the success
of the organisation. It is also to be understood that previously there were only one or two
parties that were at the command centre of the political discourse in the country hence
implementing sovereignty was not hard. Things started to change when the multi-party
system started (Cohen, 2012). However it is not the only factor neither the major factor that
has shifted sovereignty from its base in any nation. It is to be understood that why
sovereignty is an important principle for the politics. The major factor in this regard is the
fact that without sovereignty it is not easier for the political parties even to gain control over
the country or do politics because it is the state itself that gives them the power to do politics
and gain political powers. Without sovereignty external forces or political powers will gain

2
control over any nation’s politics and the discourse. After thousands of wars that have been
fought between the smaller powers and the bigger powers in the past just to gain the control
over their political regime, it is now the time for the downfall of this political principle
(Přibáň, 2016). The downfall is slow but yet considerable changes can be seen. World War 1
and World War 2 have been the perfect example of it.
In the time when the politics in various nations have become dirty, the principles such as
sovereignty have been put on the side-lines of the politics. There are several threats that are
confronting the nations all across the globe and sovereignty of the nation seems to be one of
the most critical factors that is threatening a nation. The major driver for the increase in the
threat is the globalisation as due to globalisation there are many companies that have crossed
borders and there is an increase in the chance that there is linkage in the interests (Heywood,
2014). Due to this there must be change in the political scenarios within the nation due to
external factors. In today’s time politics is highly influenced by the businesses in the nation
and it is seen that external interests are increasing in the nation’s politics. Due to this
sovereignty is under the threat. The broader understanding of this can be gained from the fact
that companies in any nation are running their economies and hence they are influencing the
politics in the nation as well. In the time when the countries are attracting larger numbers of
foreign direct investments, these are acting as an external source that is having impact on the
growth of any nation. Since most of the companies are from the bigger or developed nations
like United States of America hence this country is almost running the economy of many
countries. Due to this other smaller countries gets dependent on these bigger nations for their
interest. This is the major reason why sovereignty has been side-lined in the world politics
especially in the nations that are dependent on the bigger nations (Torres-Spelliscy, 2017).
Bigger nations are using the companies to enhance their interest in other nations and
influence the politics there.
It is to be understood that governments in various parts of the world are under the pressure of
the people to improve the condition of economy and at the same time they will have to create
new opportunities for employment. This cannot be done without the help of the FDI in the
country or say without the help of bigger multi-nationals. Smaller countries have least
capacity to manage the economics within their country hence it is becoming difficult for them
to carry on with the sovereignty as their major political principles (Weiss, 2018). In the past
few years only when the larger numbers of countries are facing economic challenges, the role
of the industrialists are increasing especially in the areas like law making and policies. Due to