Notion Of State Sovereignty Research Articles

Sovereignty and IMF Intervention in Cambodia

Sovereignty is a concept that many intuitively turn to when contesting the influence of international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in poor countries. However, an investigation of the IMF’s role in Cambodia reveals that the IMF relies on notions of state sovereignty even as it undermines popular control. This article examines the ways in which the IMF uses notions of sovereignty to complement its intervention. It reveals that, in important ways, a synthesis between sovereignty and IMF intervention occurs through the IMF’s use of a longstanding technique of colonial governance: the promise of a better kind of sovereignty in the future as a basis for intervention in the present.

Democracy, Legitimacy and the Rule of Law: Linkages

Democracy, legitimacy and the rule of law are the three essential components of good governance, which, however, results only when all three independent variables are brought together in tandem. None of these elements, by itself, assures good governance. Free and fair elections do not necessarily protect against corruption of the legislative process. Democratic rule by the majority does not invariably protect minorities from oppression. Judicial supremacy has the potential for promoting elitist autocracy as well as for the protection of basic liberties. The three elements' potential for promoting good governance is maximized when all three are deployed concurrently. Concurrent deployment, however, creates its own problems. When a society seeks to combine the benefits of democracy, legitimacy and the rule of law, these elements may be brought together in severe tension, as voters, legislators and judges vie for supremacy. Thus, good governance requires not only that all three elements be deployed concurrently, but that they be balanced. Increasingly, governance is expressed not only through national but also through international forums. As international law and institutions join their national counterparts in governance -- even at some cost to traditional Westphalian notions of state sovereignty -- it becomes important that they, too, be made accountable to emerging global standards of democracy, legitimacy and the rule of law, and that these operate in equilibrium.

Can We Define Sovereignty?

Two recent works on sovereignty have argued that the term is indefinable and that all we can do is to analyse the definitions of others The argument rightly centres upon the problematic link between sovereignty and the state. However it does not follow that because the whole notion of state sovereignty is problematic, sovereignty itself cannot be defined. This article suggests that a way out of this blind alley is to detach the idea of sovereignty from the institution of the state, so that an historically sensitive definition of the term becomes possible.