IB Global Politics Challenges to State Sovereignty Notes

Understanding the Challenges of State Sovereignty

Challenges to the Monopoly of the Use of Force

1. When violence becomes widespread and uncontrolled within a state, often due to resistance groups, criminal gangs, or terrorism, the state loses its monopoly on the use of force.
2. This loss challenges the state's most basic responsibility: to control violence and protect its people.
3. If a state cannot control violence, it often also struggles to provide essential services like policing, healthcare, education, and sanitation.
4. As a result, citizens may turn to alternative authorities (local, regional, or national) who can meet their daily needs.
5. These alternative powers further undermine the state's internal sovereignty.

1. Supranational Organizations

1. Supranational organizations are entities that hold authority above individual states, often requiring members to cede some sovereignty for collective decision-making.
2. Commonly Perceived Benefits of Joining an IGO (Intergovernmental Organization):
   1. Economic Benefits:
      1. States working together as a single market can boost economic efficiency.
      2. Easier movement of goods, services, and workers benefits all member states.
   2. Political Benefits:
      1. Countries acting together are seen as more powerful.
      2. They gain a stronger voice in global political issues compared to acting alone.
   3. Security Benefits:
      1. Member states are viewed as part of a united group.
      2. This makes them less vulnerable to threats compared to isolated states.

Case study

Donald Trump on U.S. Sovereignty and Global Agreements

• In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
• He argued that the deal disadvantaged American workers and industries and stated that the U.S. needed to prioritize its own sovereignty and economic interests rather than being bound by international agreements that he believed unfairly restricted American decision-making.

2. Indigenous Land Claims

1. Indigenous peoples are those who have lived on a land for centuries, often long before the arrival of colonists.