Declining National Sovereignty in a

Global World

Mark Altman
SS 337_01
November 12, 2009
 Human beings are social creatures. In order to accommodate their social nature they

formed tribes, which eventually coalesced into City-States, or governments contained within a

city and the surrounding lands. These tribes became City-States to accommodate the developing

domestic agriculture, and to facilitate increased amounts of commerce and military protection.

As time progressed these City-States began to form alliances, both economic and military, and

began forging the current day Nation-State. The Nation-State will soon be going the way of the

City-State, merging into larger “Continental-States” the same way that City-States became the

current Nation-State system. Organizations like the European Union (EU), United Nations

(UN), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the African Union (AU) represent

the same military and economic agreements and unions that were made between City-States

prior to coalition into larger Nation-States, and show that these Nation-States will merge despite

the strength of Nationalism and the love of National Sovereignty.

The formation of the City-State was in direct response to several factors including, but

not limited to commerce, military might, and agriculture. This is shown throughout all of the

ancient world, but especially in the area that would become Italy. In southern Italy the Etruscan

Clan began to consolidate, the legend of Romulus and Remus is well known as the story for the

foundation of Rome; the legend may not be true, but there is archeological evidence, according

to T.J. Cornell in his book The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the

Punic Wars, that during the 8th Century BC the communities of Old Latium began to experience

significant, but gradual, changes. Cornell states that, “There was a continued growth in the size

of the population, and a consolidation of the nucleated settlements that had developed at the

major sites at the end of the preceding phase. A rise in both the quantity and quality of materials

found in the cemeteries of Latium points to an increase in the general level of both wealth and
prosperity” (Cornell 81). Cornell goes on to state that this is probably due to an increase in the

agricultural success and technologies, and that due to this there is the first trace of polyculture,

including the cultivation of vines and olives, as well as wheel-turned pottery. This also included

specialization of labor sources, a mile-marker of the creation of “civilization.” The last few

decades of the 8th Century also showed the beginnings of social stratification and the emergence

of a set aristocracy complete with fortifications at the site that eventually became Rome. By

studying the tombs of Ancient Italy and Greece, Cornell was able to point out similarities

between the two that showed that the two cultures began to grow off of one another, showing a

universal growth of City-States and colonization (Cornell 89). This Hellenism of Ancient

Latium also can be seen as an early form of globalization. As the various clans of Ancient

Latium, and Ancient Greece, began communicating and sharing cultures they began to form

different alliances to create the City-State system that became characteristic of the time.

The Greeks of Ancient Greece held a similar system that was more advanced for its place

in history, and was formed to create greater military might, stronger commercial centers, and

greater agricultural abilities. Sparta for instance began as most City-States, as a tribe settling

down and growing in population, but quickly its focus began to move towards military might.

According to Michael Whitby, in his book Sparta, Early Sparta began turning their eye towards a

priority in the way future soldiers and warriors were trained (Whitby 22). This shows a

difference between the different City-States, but also shows that all of these City-States were

founded under the same basic premise. These same premises form the basic premises for the

foundation of the Nation-State, our current systems of government.

The term Nation-State is dependent on the definition of both the terms Nation and State.

Nation is defined by Ernest Gellner, in his book Nations and Nationalism, as a group of men
who both, hold the same cultural values, and accept each other as members of the same nation.

He argues that the term State grew without the idea of the Nation, obviously due to the idea of

the City-State predicating the Nation-State, but both have become mutually necessary (Gellner

6). He continues on to discuss how the foundation of the written word began society, this is seen

in the City-States of the world, but then claims that as literacy spread and agriculture and the

technology therein grew, certain City-States made economic and militaristic pacts that created

the first agro-literary Nation-States (Gellner 11). The trend of growth begins to emerge. As the

technology, and ability to sustain larger populations grew, the ability for humans to coalesce into

larger forms of government became possible. First, the City-State grew through agriculture,

commerce, and military need for protection; then, for these exact same reasons, the Nation-State

grew, first as an agro-literary state, and then later as an industrialized Nation. It is reasonable to

extrapolate this out to the Nation-State and to something beyond.

First it is important to examine the different types of alliances that our Nation-States are

forming in order to determine if they are in fact following the aforementioned trend. These

alliances include: The United Nations (UN), The North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA), The European Union (EU), and The African Union (AU). Each of these alliances or

trade agreements hold within it either a commercial or militant quality, or both, that the tribes,

prior to City-States, had before forming City-States, and that City-States held prior to forming

today’s Nation-States.

The United Nations, according to its organizational website, is an organization founded in

1945 to assist with international governance with the specific goals to, “work on a broad range of

fundamental issues, from sustainable development, environment and refugees protection, disaster

relief, counter terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation, to promoting democracy, human

rights, governance, economic and social development and international health, clearing

landmines, expanding food production, and more, in order to achieve its goals and coordinate

efforts for a safer world for this and future generations” (United Nations). Many of these goals

are humanitarian, and few people would say that they are not in the best interest of the people of

the world, but they do represent an increase in the involvement of the international community in

the sovereign affairs of the Nation-State. Some of these goals show obvious integration. By the

UN’s own admission their intent is to assist in governance, and economic development, which

are two of the items that caused the integration of the City-State into the Nation-State. Article II

of the UN Charter states that, “All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in

any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving

assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement

action” (United Nations). A lessening amount of National Sovereignty is accepted as a

necessary evil in this case, and the nations of the United Nations allow this decrease in National

Sovereignty for the greater good, which gives one example that nations will dispense with their

jealous guard over their sovereignty for the greater good of their nation. While necessary, this

clause represents a complete military commitment that degrades the sovereignty of the members

of the United Nations. Once again these same military agreements between City-States caused

the creation of Nation-States, or an increase in the feeling that members of a community are part

of the same Nation.

On a purely commercial basis the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a

treaty between the different nations of the North American Continent, as in Canada, Mexico, and

the United States, that abolishes most tariffs against imports and exports between the three

countries. Following the United States accepting a NAFTA agreement with Canada and Mexico
separately, Canada and Mexico formed their own Free Trade Agreement causing an

interconnectivity of commerce that was unprecedented. According to the United States

Department of Agriculture, NAFTA was designed to eliminate all barriers to trade between the

three North American countries (USDA). This agreement met with a lot of controversy when it

was signed into law, and continues to occasionally generate scrutiny. Its proponents tout the free

trade as lowering barriers, but the main complaints of the dissenting members of society state

that the free trade not only is not good for the American Economy, and resulting in job loss, it

also lessens American Sovereignty, according to Robert Scott, a writer for the Economic Policy

Institute. Scott goes on to explain that these increased economic ties create too much

dependence on the economic viability of each nation (Scott 10). These new ties are not just seen

in agreements involving the United States though.

The European Union (EU) is, according to its official publications found on its website,

defined by the “Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe”. This “European Constitution”

creates a co-legislative body, or a legislature that passes laws and makes treaties that would be

ratified by the member-states according to their own legislative process (European Union).

Quite obviously this process ties each of the twenty-five member-states in to each other in

everything but name. The system itself is reminiscent of the United States federal system with

twenty-five “states” forming one larger government. While that is not an exact mirror to how the

European Union operates, it does point out the decreasing amount of political sovereignty in the

member-states compared to one another. Even the currency of these countries has become the

same, the Euro. This serves as yet another example of the idea of National Sovereignty dying.

Also this commercial and political union between these countries fits the trend developed as

City-States formed followed by the formation of Nation-States. The European Union is not the
only version of a continental power forming between Nation-States of similar geographical

location.

The African Union (AU) has the stated mission and vision of, “A united and integrated

Africa; an Africa imbued with the ideals of justice and peace; an inter-dependent and robust

Africa determined to map for itself an ambitious strategy; an Africa underpinned by political,

economic, social and cultural integration which would restore to Pan-Africanism its full

meaning,” (African Union 26). This “united and integrated Africa” is long in coming by the

AU’s own admission; however, the fact that it is on its way shows a disintegration of the

sovereignty of the individual nations of the African Continent. The mission of the African Union

goes on to describe the people of Africa as citizens of Africa before citizens of their individual

countries, with an eye towards a unified Africa before the warring individual countries (Africa

Union 26). The reasons for this shift is outlined earlier in the same document, including but not

limited to commercial power (Africa Union 9), military peace and protection (Africa Union 15),

and intellectual renaissance with a desire to end human rights violations (Africa Union 14).

These different organizations show the beginning of a journey down a path that has, in

the past, caused the integration of separate governmental entities into a larger, more secure

entity, but there are more reasons for the slow destruction of National Sovereignty; one of which

is the rise of the world-empire or world-economic system. Nuku Ofori suggests in his

dissertation, A World System in Flux: The Rise of the Modern World Empire and its Signifigance

in the Modern World-System, that the current system of national governments, guarded closely

by the proponents of National Sovereignty, is being broken down by the emerging global

economy. He suggests that, “A world system exists as either a world-empire, which is a coercive

system based on political or military domination, or a capitalist world-economy, which is a

system based on economic domination” (Ofori 4). Ofori states that the current world-economy

has been in place since the 16th Century, but is waning in favor of a World-Empire. He seems to

believe that the sovereign Nation-State is being integrated into this World-Empire due to a need

for the economic viability that it would provide, since the current economic system is uneven

towards certain members (Ofori 34). His theory seems reflected in the aforementioned ideas of

the European Union, and African Union. Both of the systems have a stated mission of insuring

that their members are not, in the words of the Africa Commission of the African Union,

“Marginalized in a growing world-economy” (African Union 9).

Ali Kahn, a professor of law at Washburn University, also talks about the declining

sovereignty of the Nation-State in his article The Extinction of Nation-States. He explains that

legally the United Nations Charter allows for a Nation-State to be split into two separate entities,

and can be re-merged if the new separate nations find it necessary, thereby eradicating the

arbitrary boundaries, often placed by colonialism or other foreign involvement (Kahn 198). He

suggests that this ability to forcibly split a sovereign nation in fact eradicates its special

sovereignty and allows for a group of foreign powers to dictate the actions within a state. He

suggests that the slow decay of sovereignty of the separate state in fact does eliminate the need,

and eventually will eliminate the actuality, of the Nation-State (Kahn 201). Since the start of

time government has been necessary for man, so when the Nation-State has died, as Kahn

suggests, what will take its place? According to the pre-established trend it will be the

governmental systems already in place, like the EU or AU.

Marc Arena also describes a change in the sovereignty of the current Nation-State. In his

Thesis entitled Shared Sovereignty: Dealing with Modern Challenges to the Sovereign State

World, Arena suggests that in the clash of forces of globalization and ethnic nationalism,
Globalization will eventually manage to overcome ethnic nationalism, and the idea of National

Sovereignty. He describes the logic of regional trade agreements, and describes some of the

same agreements discussed earlier in this document. He found that organizations like the

European Union and African Union, and treaties such as The North American Free Trade

Agreement, follow the logical idea of Regional Trade Agreements (Arena 12). This idea was the

same as the logic that was followed by City-States looking to merge for commercial gain. He

also explains that the same geographical region will typically hold many of the same cultural

values, and there will likely be less of a language barrier between citizens of the region (Arena

12). This lack of cultural and language barriers allows for greater cohesion between the states; a

continued merging of the state the logical conclusion.

The evidence holds that the Nation-State is declining, with its sovereignty declining due

to globalization of culture and commerce, and military might beginning to merge as well in

systems such as the United Nations. History has shown that as human beings found it necessary

they have come together to solve problems of commerce, military, and politics, starting with the

formation of City-States as places where commerce and agriculture could thrive under the

blanket protection of a stronger united military. As the threats grew larger and technology made

it capable, the different City-States, in need of commercial growth and military protection, began

to merge into Nation-States, populated with people with the same cultural belief system. Today

regional agreements are beginning to surface and gain power. The European Union functions as

a de facto government for Europe, with trade at the forefront, just as the African Union is

beginning to become a power with the goal of uniting Africa in order to achieve commercial

stability, and peace. The North American Free Trade Agreement holds many of the trade

agreements that are typical in other regional agreements, and due to the large amount of military
cooperation between the different North American states military agreements are sure to follow.

The merging of Nation-States into some sort of regional state, or “Continental-State”, seems to

be a surety in the face of this evidence.

 Works Cited

The African Union. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. <http://www.africa-union.org>.

Arena, Marc D. Shared Sovereignty: Dealing with Modern Challenges to the Sovereign State

System. Thesis. Georgetown University, 2009. ERAU Library Database. Web. 20 Nov.

2009.

Cornell, Tim. Beginnings of Rome Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c.

1000-264 BC). London: Routledge, 1995. Print.

Ernest, Gellner. Nations and Nationalism. Cornell UP, 1983. Print.

Khan, Ali. "The Extinction of Nation-States." N. pag. Print.

"North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)." USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)

- Homepage. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. <http://www.fas.usda.gov/itp/Policy/nafta/nafta.asp>.

Ofori, Nuku. "A World-System in Flux: The Rise of the Modern World-Empire and its

Signifigance in the Modern World-System." Diss. American University, 2009. N. pag.

ERAU Library Database. Web. 20 Nov. 2009.

Scott, Robert E. "The High Price of Free Trade." Briefing Paper. Print.

Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your World. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. <http://www.un.org>.

Whitby, Michael. Sparta. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.