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National Sovereignty Vs. Globalization
Authors: Michele Marsonet

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Globalization entails the increasing volume, velocity and importance of flows within
and across borders of people, ideas, goods, money, and much else, thus challenging
one of sovereignty’s basic principles: the ability to control what crosses borders in
either direction. Sovereign States increasingly measure their vulnerability not to one
another, but to forces beyond their control. Necessity may also lead to reducing or
even eliminating sovereignty when a government, whether from a lack of capacity or
conscious policy, is unable to provide for the basic needs of its citizens. This reflects a
view that state failure and genocide can lead to destabilizing refugee flows and create
openings for terrorists to take root.
Globalization is frequently discussed as a counterpoint to national sovereignty. It
is commonly asserted that globalization has eroded national sovereignty or that it
has rendered borders obsolete. In particular, it is asserted that, in a globalized world
economy, governments have no alternative but to adopt neoliberal economic policies
of privatization, deregulation and reductions in public expenditure. However, in the
contest between social democracy and neoliberal globalization, the nation—state
per se is only marginally relevant. The crucial issue is whether policy will respond
to the wishes of a democratic electorate, or be tightly constrained by the ‘Golden
Straightjacket’ of international financial markets.