From the disbanding of Knights Templars in 1307 to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648; from the establishment
of the Bretton Woods global economic regime in 1945 to current alleged "imperial nation-buildinglite"
in Afghanistan, this symposium will examine the evolving norms and rules of sovereignty in
global politics. Is sovereignty a requirement for global security and prosperity? Or is it, as one analyst
has stated, "organized hypocrisy"?
With globalization, will we witness the retreat or the renewal of the legitimacy of state power? What
are the "prerogatives of power and the limitations of law" in contemporary world politics? How should
sovereignty be understood in an era of global non-state terrorism? Of state-sponsored terrorism?
Our inquiry will address current intellectual and policy debates,
from the vexing issues of intervention, secession and self-determination to the interdependent challenges of globalization.
What was U.S. foreign policy decisionmaking in recent interventions? Why did intervention occur in Kosovo
but not in Rwanda? In Sarajevo but not in Grozny? What are the
consequences? How do we understand contested sovereignty in the
West Bank? When should intervention occur, under whose authority,
and how? How should Article 51 of the UN Charter regarding "selfdefense"
be interpreted?
We will probe national, unilateral interventionary actions as well as
multilateral and alliance interventions. And we will examine the
multiple, controversial mandates and cross border deployments of
United Nations peacekeeping forces. What are the challenges of peacekeeping vs. peacemaking? What are the
norms of coercive inducement? Of sanctions? What are the ethics, politics and costs of political interventions,
from reversing coups to preemptive action aimed at destroying weapons of mass destruction?
Is the concept of "armed humanitarianism" an oxymoron or a critical ingredient of global security?
What are the roles for national or private armies? What are the impacts of humanitarian interventions,
from preventing genocide or famine to disaster relief? What are the appropriate roles of governments,
non-governmental organizations, and private voluntary organizations?
How should we judge the legitimacy and accountability of
NGO's?
In the international political economy, how are factors of technology
and finance, transnational corporations, massive immigration, and the
transborder flows of labor and capital transforming sovereignty?
Have the power of markets and free trade outgrown the capacities of
national governments? How will non-state authorities, such as
accounting firms, influence the behavior of states? What is the
efficacy of emergency economic intervention to change production
structures, to create jobs, to employ former soldiers and to reduce
unemployment? To offer, or to
withhold credit? How have the
leverage of international debt
regimes, the structural adjustment demands of the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and other international financial
institutions transfigured sovereignty?
And systemically, how are
global ecological and environmental dilemmas and threats
affecting, and affected by, sovereignty? What challenges do
they and the "greening of sovereignty" pose for global governance?