Panel Charters

PANEL I: POWER AND NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Co-sponsor: National Committee on American Foreign Policy

Is national sovereignty being eroded, and if so, to what extent? Are nation-states still the basic unit of the international system, or are they being displaced by other players and forces from below (ethnic groups, civil society) and above (regional and international organizations)? If the latter, what are the implications for the use of military and other power?

Each panelist will be asked to focus on one of the following major challenges to national sovereignty:

1. Globalization of the economy. Are nation-states still in a position to make authoritative
   decisions concerning fiscal flows, trade, labor relations, and all other traditional concerns
   when many problems now arise beyond national borders? Is a global civil society (including
   activists, nongovernmental organizations, and world congresses called by the UN General
   Assembly) making it difficult or even impossible for nation-states and intergovernmental
   agencies to function?
2. The rise of regional organizations, notably the European Union (EU). Does the EU represent a new kind of “postmodern” power, presaging the “breaking of nations” (as in the title of a recent book by Robert Cooper) and a transformation of the Westphalian system based on
   the principle of national sovereignty?
3. Genocide. There is widespread desire to prevent genocide and violations of human rights,
   particularly in “failed” states. Is the principle of national sovereignty undermined by intervention of external forces, either by regional organizations or the United Nations?
4. Political situation. Political situation. Are we perhaps in that most dangerous of all political situations, referred to by Emile Durkheim as “anomie”? This occurs when old institutions and values have lost their effectiveness and legitimacy, but new ones have not yet been created.