After the Party, is there a Cure for the Hangover? The Challenges of the Global Economy to Westphalian Sovereignty

Abstract

Nation-States, and their authority referred to here as national sovereignty, is under threat from forces within the global economy. Although globalisation is considered to be a recent phenomenon that has now attracted the attention of writers, its origins lie with those of the Nation-State, as the Nation-State clawed its way to dominate the international community. Nation-States achieved their pre-eminence and dominance of the international community on the backs of free enterprise and capitalism; and now this dependence threatens their very existence. Now belatedly, Nation- States are attempting to regulate the global economy through the IMF and the World Bank and other means. This paper examines the effect that the global economy has upon the traditional understanding of sovereignty.