Blog 2- Are there entities in the contemporary world that are not sovereign, but should be sovereign? Should sovereignty be the exclusive province of what Opello and Rosow call "nation-states"?

As a reference to the lesson today, it is crucial to understand that sovereignty is based on the four elements of power, autonomy, authority, and capacity, and although many institutions both social and governmental possess one or two of the aspects of sovereignty, that does not necessarily deem them as a sovereign body. Take the U.N. for example, which has massive capacity, and some authority as a part of sovereignty, but no autonomy and only a semblance of power. The U.N. cannot be considered sovereign because it fails to meet the criteria, however, should steps be taken to make it a sovereign body?

The U.N. should become sovereign because it is futile to have an institution of governance that is used merely as a theatre for discussion, treaty writing, and imposing sanctions. Of course the U.N. is slightly more sophisticated than that narrow description, but the idea is that it has no way to enforce it’s rulings because not only are there many nations outside of the U.N.’s sphere, but also it has no military coalition that has proven to be effective in international warfare.

Today the U.N. is reminiscent of the first U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation. There is a weak central government to which a group of nations is attached. However, like the first U.S. states or colonies, there is far more allegiance to the individual nation then there is to the U.N. as a whole. Proof of this lies in the Iraq War, because despite the hesitancy of the U.N. to approve and commit to violence in the Middle East, the U.S. still committed troops to the conflict, showing a more severe concern with the state of the nation rather then the state of the U.N.

If the U.N. were to have more aspects of sovereignty, modeling more of their institutions on the security council, and furthering that model to give them power, granted by the authority of the conglomerate of nations, the “governing body of our world” would have tangible and legitimate powers that would make it more than just a nice idea.

However, there are certainly bodies that are not nation-states, which, unlike the U.N., should not be recognized as, or allowed to be sovereign. It is undeniable that the Ku Klux Klan should not become a sovereign body, because the benefit of them being so would have no national or global merit. Any body that becomes more effective for the purpose it is intended to achieve should be encouraged to become sovereign by the global community. Therefore sovereignty should not be restricted to nation states, but the distribution of sovereignty should be wisely allocated.