SOVERIGNTY: WE ARE, THEREFORE I AM.

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Today's discussion features a guest who discusses the impact of "Sovereignty in a globalist world order."

Should you have any questions, his details are at the end of the conversation.

 SOVEREIGNTY IN A GLOBALIST WORLD ORDER

There is no gainsaying that the world is slowly becoming a global village, the advent of technology such as social media which has taken its rightful place on almost every continent is slowly making the world a single world order.

With the emergence of international organisations such as the United Nations in the 20^th Century and the need for government structures like the European Union, the sovereignty of individual nations has slowly become a tale of what use to hold.

While appreciating the efforts of technology in making the world a better place to live in, the argument today is that through the need for change and the achievements for a one-world without bias, the concept of sovereignty which originally behoves on each nation-state is fast becoming non-existence.

To put the horse before the cart, let’s examine the definition of globalism or globalist foreign policy. In my opinion, It is essentially the belief in the singular existence of the world without component states, and a neoliberal belief in a singular global culture, lifestyle, political norms and free trade among countries without borders. It is the promotion of every person as a citizen of the world, rather than a citizen of a specific nation; hence the obligation of a person is to humanity rather than the country, where supranational institution trump national government norms. This is the policy of a national government that treats the whole world as a single sphere of influence.

While some may argue that this ideology is set to bring more good and rewards than harm, it would be expedient at this juncture to point out that a most basic feature of statehood, is sovereignty. Every nation in the world is a sovereign power that can make laws for the people who reside within its territory, without the interference from other nations, as having such laws become norms overtime. This sovereignty is ensured by the United Nations Charter, Article 2(1) (4).

 The erosion of the sovereign nature of a state is divided along three (3) lines, which are the issues on Migration and security, Human rights, and Global regime.

For the purpose of this discussion, we shall be focused on Migration and security, and Human rights. Let’s begin:

1.      Migration and Security

The basic crux of a global world order, is a world free of national borders or identity. That is to say, a world where people and capital; goods and service are easily moveable without the restrictions of states. (This is the underlying basis for bloc governments like the European Union, where member states can interact with each other without the restrictions of state policies on the issuance of visa for citizens, and tariffs for goods from other Member-State).

It is noteworthy that the free movement of nationals among the bloc states was all good until the migrant crisis of 2016, where economic migrants and refugees from war stricken countries of Northern Africa flooded the borders of the coastal bloc states thereby creating a conundrum for the bloc.

What seemed to be the way out at the time was for the bloc to seek to alleviate the crisis by redistributing the migrants among the bloc states. However, there were reservations from some states like Hungary, Italy, Poland, Austria amongst others. This objection was on the basis of the sovereignty of the State, to admit persons into and within the territorial borders of the state.

Could we then say that the basis of the objection was wrong? The ensuing questions remain: Upon the admission into the bloc government structure of the EU, does the admitted country yield its entire sovereign power over its nationals to the bloc? Should its major intention when promulgating or amending a law be to seeing the satisfaction of its own citizen or that of the bloc?

 Hence, the surrender of individual national sovereignty to the collective, I am who I am, because we are who are we. We are, therefore I am?

When would it be wise to call a meeting round the table to discuss the misuse of this once beautiful concept of sovereignty? As it is now, it is safe to say that an individual country may not make a rule which is unfavourable to the bloc government structure; also, it cannot defy the bloc to the benefit of its nationals. Advertently, this gives powerful nations within the bloc coalition an excuse for ‘legal interference’ over the national government of a coalition within the bloc. A practical example will be the European Parliament sanction under Article 7 of Hungary, over its decision to refuse migrants as a matter of internal policy reform. 

Conclusively, every Country has her unique legal and social culture, rules and guidelines which is peculiar to her people. A government of a sovereign Nation should be able to exercise its sovereign as it relates to its people giving them the best benefit. An unelected supranational institution is a bane on the national sovereignty of a nation, and should not be allowed to dictate the national policy of such a nation. 

The best interest of a people is best recognized by the legitimate government of such a nation, and hence the nature of democracy. Where representative government cannot represent the core values of the people who elected them, such as an impediment to democracy which invalidates the will of the people. 

The people are supreme in any democracy, not supranational organizations not now and not ever; such was the verdict of the British people in the vote to exit the European Union and reclaim their sovereignty. 

2.      Human Rights

This is the basic right of every person of the world, irrespective of country, race or creed. It is another tenet of globalist foreign policy that seems to have permeated every corner of the world. With remarkable charters such as the Universal Declarations on Human Rights 1948, Magna carter which seeks to promote and protect our inalienable rights.

 The emergence of human right and its subsequent campaign is a subject that supersedes the sovereignty of a nation to treat its citizens as it deems fit. Such documents and charters are yardsticks or better put moral compasses, by which ‘right and wrong’ is measured. 

A basic feature of human rights is the duty of all in the international community to defend and uphold them, irrespective of the sovereignty of the nation over its own people. It is a protected duty. Hence, human rights are the inalienable rights of all people irrespective of government, or country. 
 

This was the mantra that led to the invasion of Libya by the international coalition of N.A.T.O, and the U.S, to free the people of Libya from the vile dictatorship and oppression of the Libyan regime of Qaddafi. 

It is redundant to say that the intervention in Libya violated international norms of non-aggression against state parties, but the protection of human right is an exception to such peremptory norm. The sovereignty of a nation over its national affairs is limited to, and by its level of protection of basic human rights. Where and if a country violates the basic rights of a group or a section of its people, the international community has a duty to protect such people from such violation and in some cases move to end such violating practices. Examples include Serbia, Kosovo. Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Congo, Myanmar e.t.c. 

Conclusively, the rights of a State to defend its borders, and the integrity of its people should be supreme. It should be non-negotiable. We are all citizens of the world but belong first to our kin, family, state nation and then the international community.

 The emergence of large global institutions that are slowly replacing or undermining the effectiveness of the national government is alarming. The requirement of ratifying and domesticating treaties into laws, before they become binding on any nation should still be guaranteed as contained in S.12 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 The core principle of democracy is a representative government which is to be elected by the people, the surrender of the people’s mandate to an unelected group of persons. The European Parliament is a betrayal of the franchise of the people in electing their national governments within a sovereign state. 

The world is becoming ‘smaller’ with the advent of technology, but the governmental structures are becoming bigger. The E.U is the biggest bloc government in the world, with such increments the continual erosion of state sovereignty. The situation in Syria is another example of increasing erosion of sovereignty, where foreign governments can conduct airstrikes within the state of Syria without the permission of the national government.

The world must come together to protect our franchise, and democracy, through the re-imagination of international organizations and blocs so as to protect the national interest of a nation as well as foster a global relationship amongst the international community.  

MEET THE AUTHOR:
Drawn from his desire to cause change in his immediate environment, comes this piece on finding and redeeming the concept of sovereignty. Aweh Precious, a lawyer and enthusiast of world peace, believer of the concept of 'united we stand', has decided to arouse the change stimuli in us. Take a seat back, relax as you feed your intellectual hunger.

If you would like to reach out to the author, he is available on precious_aweh@yahoo.com. you can also leave your comments, suggestions or questions in the comment box below. Thank you for taking the time out to read and share this post.

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