International Institutions as Threat to Sovereignty of Developing Countries

Abstract

International institutions through the vehicle of globalisation have gradually impacted on the sovereignty of developing countries as state actors in public policy making and implementation are being enveloped by multiple external actors. States now have limited liberty to decide their policies as it interests them due to the influence of international institutions that loom large on them. This paper
examined international institutions as entities that threaten sovereignty of developing countries. It used secondary sources to gather data, while dependency theory was adopted as its framework of analysis. The paper observed that international institutions emerged from the need for states to come together and interact in the international system to solve common problems, which may be difficult to solve individually. It disclosed that the incursion of international institutions as vehicles of globalization has increasingly put the developing states and their institutions under pressure from both the domestic and global sectors. The paper also revealed that the operations of international institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation are highly contentious in terms of putting forward requirements that handicapped the sovereign power of the developing countries, with limited scope for national economic policy and development. This paper concluded that international institutions through various initiatives have grossly undermined the developing countries’ sovereignty to the extent that most of them lack adequate capacity to make independent decisions within their territory. The paper recommended, among others, that developing countries should define their
objectives in terms of both domestic and foreign policies, and demonstrate the strong will to pursue it vigorously. The states should shun any international institution initiative, which does not serve her foreign and domestic policy goal(s). Also, the developing countries should focus on indigenous policies and programmes for the development that are peculiar to them.