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International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
Sovereignty, Globalization And Transnational Social Movements
by Raimo Väyrynen
Abstract
Traditionally, sovereign states have been defined, in terms of their external and internal dimensions, as mutually exclusive territorial jurisdictions. Economic globalization is associated with the liberalization of the world economy, decreases in transaction costs, the development of communication technologies, and the emergence of transnational social and cultural spaces. These have eroded the divide between national and international systems and fostered the dispersal of power in social networks. As a result, it is unrealistic to define state sovereignty as a counterpose to the global system, as these phenomena have become mutually embedded. States and their sovereignty are not disappearing–on the contrary, they may be gaining new tasks and resources–but they cannot exercise their agentive power as effectively as before. This means that the internal dimension of state sovereignty has been transformed more thoroughly than the external one. This is in part due to the growth and proliferation of transnational social movements, which have also gained agentive power in national societies. Therefore, the anti-globalization movement, although it is unable to halt the process of economic integration, has been able to redefine the terms of the globalization debate and influence responses by national governments and international financial institutions.