Sovereignty-the authority of a state to wield ultimate power over
its territory, its citizens, its institutions-is everywhere
undergoing change as states respond in various ways to the
challenges posed, from above and below. "Above" the state is the
widening net of international institutions and treaties dealing
with human rights, trade, investment, and monetary affairs; and
"below" it are rising claims within states from long-resident
groups discontented with the political order and from new migrants
testing its authority. "Sovereignty under Challenge" deals with a
range of such challenges and responses, analyzed in authoritative
studies by leading scholars.
The introductory chapter sets forth the theme that sovereignty is
asserted clearly, but often unpredictably, when governments respond
to challenge. It suggests ways of classifying these responses as
variables that help explain the changing nature of sovereignty.
Part 1, "The Citizen and the State," treats the rising tide of dual
citizenship and the concerns this arouses in the United States; the
work of national human rights commissions in Asia; and the
challenge posed to the state by the Falungong movement in China.
The two chapters in Part 2, "The Government as Decision-Maker,"
examine Japan's response to global warming and the problems of the
World Health Organization in orchestrating collaboration among
Southeast Asian states in implementing infectious disease control.
Part 3, "Sovereignty and Culture," looks at conflicts engendered by
outside change on indigenous economic, cultural, and legal
institutions in India, Fiji, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The chapters
in Part 4, "Sovereignty and the Economy," analyze the economic and
cultural instability induced by Chinese migration to Russia's far
east; the impact on state sovereignty brought about by
transnational regulatory campaigns and social activism; the
question of indigenous land rights in the Philippines; and the
impact of transnational corporations on information technology in
Asia. A concluding chapter offers a global assessment of the
current status of state sovereignty.
John D. Montgomery, director of the Pacific Basin Research Center
of Soka University of America, is also Ford Foundation Professor of
International Studies, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is the
author of "Forced to Be Free, The Artificial Revolution in Germany
and Japan, The Politics of Foreign Aid: American Experience in
Southeast Asia," and "Aftermath: Tarnished Outcomes of American
Foreign Policy." Nathan Glazer is Professor of Education and
Sociology, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is co-editor of the
journal "The Public Interest" and the author most recently of "The
Limits of Social Policy" and "We Are All Multiculturists Now."
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