The Decline of Sovereignty?

Abstract

Have we truly entered a post-sovereign world? There is much evidence to suggest that this is the case. Changes in the world economy, the environment, technology and international politics have acted, frequently synergistically, to undermine state sovereignty in numerous ways, especially in the last two decades. Yet as we explore the ways that sovereignty has been challenged, and speculate on the theoretical and practical consequences of those challenges, we should not forget that sovereign power is not relinquished easily or willingly. States, and their human representatives, are usually reluctant to abandon the secure foundation of the modern world that served them so well. In many cases, when the challenge to security is perceived as security threat, states respond with violence and torture. It is the contention of this chapter that state terror is an attempt to anchor sovereign identity in the face of a rapidly changing world. This claim will be supported through a discussion of the period in Argentine history called the ‘Proceso’, a time from 1976 to 1983 when the military ruled through terror and tortured thousands of people it perceived to be threats to its regime.