The Effects of Globalization on the Sovereignty of the State

This essay examines the complex relationship between globalization and the sovereignty of states. It discusses how globalization, characterized by increased integration, interdependence, and cooperation among economies, impacts state autonomy and territoriality. The essay presents contrasting views, with some arguing that globalization strengthens sovereignty by fostering economic growth and others contending that it weakens sovereignty through the influence of multinational corporations, international organizations, and increased migration. Ultimately, the essay concludes that while globalization can enhance sovereignty in certain contexts, it predominantly poses a threat to the longevity and traditional understanding of state sovereignty by limiting the ability of states to regulate economic and political activities within their borders.

Running head: GLOBALIZATION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATE
Globalization and Sovereignty of the State
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1GLOBALIZATION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATE
Globalization and Sovereignty of the State
Globalization refers to the integration and interdependence of the different economies of
the world, and transfer and exchange of the cultures, population, technologies, investments,
resources and information across the world (Agnew, 2017). Thus, globalization is an outcome of
the increased cooperation between the political, economic and social environments between the
nations, which is driven by technological advancement, and transport sector development.
Globalization has both positive and negative impacts on various aspects of the countries and
sovereignty of the nations is one such aspect that has experienced the effects of globalization.
Sovereignty represents the implementation of the highest political authority and autonomy on the
citizens of a nation, with a specific boundary (Ladeur, 2017). Thus, sovereignty of a state
includes two aspects, autonomy and territoriality. While some economists argue that
globalization has no negative impact on the sovereignty of the states, some have the view that
sovereignty of the states is getting severely affected due to the growing globalization.
Stein (2016) highlighted that globalization often emphasizes on the global capitalism in
the economic sphere and the benefits are mostly enjoyed by the rich and developed countries and
few advanced developing countries. The less developed and poor economies are not able to
enjoy the benefits of globalization due to the income equality. Thus, the author stated that
capitalism often dominate globalization and the sovereignty of the capitalist nations is not
hampered much as the political systems of these states can also implement their supreme power
over the global economic integration. Even though the idea of integration of global economies
implies the collapsing of independent and autonomous entity of the states under the integrated
monetary unions, driven by technology, widespread internet, and increased volume of
international trade, yet it has been observed that sovereignty still remains the foundation of

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interactions among the economies across the world. The effectiveness of sovereignty in
ultimately beneficial for enjoying the benefits of globalization as these economies can utilize
their supreme autonomous power to gain more benefits for their own economies and that leads to
increased efforts for more integration with the global economies (Stein, 2016). Similarly,
capitalist and socialist, both types of political powers are benefitted from globalization and the
economic growth and benefits improve the economic conditions of people, which enhances the
strengths of the sovereignty of the state.
However, the contradictory view says that globalization is threating for sovereignty of the
states. The fundamentals of globalization lies in the concept of increased integration,
interdependence and cooperation among the different economies in the world. With
globalization, there has been increase in the number of multinational corporations, global
financial flows, internet, increased access of people to real time news, promoted by the global
media giants, and increase in trade, and all these effects of globalization are limiting the power of
the sovereignty of the states (Ganaie & Mohiuddin, 2016). The authors highlighted that
globalization has been able to raise concerns over the economic development, democracy,
security and human rights and those are affecting the design, degree and defense of the
sovereignty. The level of impact on the sovereignty varies across the countries due to their
difference in political and economic structure and condition. While some economies, especially
the less developed countries are limiting their sovereign power themselves to increase the FDI
and other benefits in their countries, some developed economies are facing challenges and rebels
from their citizens, powered by the technology and awareness, to reduce their sovereign power
and include more foreign entities into the economy for achieving more growth and development.
The entry of more foreign entities reduces the ability of the states to regulate all the economic

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and political activities within their territories, and thereby increases the foreign influence in the
domestic economy. The authors further stated that globalization not only reduces the internal
sovereignty but it affects the external powers also, as the countries must follow the rules and
regulations of the international organizations, such as, World Trade Organization (WTO), IMF,
World Bank etc. for participating in the globalization process. The economic activities are
majorly controlled by these global organizations to maintain equality and fairness in the
globalization process, which is an obstacle for the exercising the sovereign power of the states.
Globalization has also increased migration across the economies and as the number of foreign
nationals is increasing in the nations, the cultural integration is enhanced and states are finding it
difficult to exercise their sovereign powers on the residents (Ganaie & Mohiuddin, 2016). Thus,
it can be said that while globalization has enhanced the sovereignty of the states in some
economies, it has majorly threated the longevity of the sovereignty.

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References
Agnew, J. (2017). Globalization and sovereignty: Beyond the territorial trap. Rowman &
Littlefield.
Ganaie, M. A., & Mohiuddin, S. (2016). Globalization and State Sovereignty. International
Journal of Political Science and Development, 4(2), 54-56.
Ladeur, K. H. (2017). Globalization and Public Governance–A Contradiction?. In Public
governance in the age of globalization (pp. 1-22). Routledge.
Stein, A. A. (2016). The great trilemma: are globalization, democracy, and sovereignty
compatible?. International Theory, 8(2), 297-340.