Globalization and State Sovereignty: Transformed or Eroded?

Abstract

Globalization is the process of intensification of economic, political, social and cultural relations across international boundaries aimed at the transcendental homogenization of political and socioeconomic relationships. It represents the reality that we live in a time when the walls of sovereignty are no protection against the movements of capital, labor, information and ideas nor can they provide effective protection against harm and damage across the globe. This impacts significantly on developing states through systematic restructuring of interactive phases among nations, by breaking down barriers in the areas of culture, commerce, communication and several other fields of endeavor. These processes have impelled series of cumulative and conjectural crisis in the global distribution of economic and political power. This paper uses the world systems theory to examine the negative impacts of globalization on the sovereignty of states, and suggests that to translate the potential opportunities into actual capabilities, a country would need to adopt an appropriate set of policies. Thus, even though this interaction continues, countries must select what to accept and what to reject, by adopting appropriate policies that would be to their best benefit. This is a reflection of the sovereignty of such a state.