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The Sovereignty Wars

Reconciling America with the World
Authors:
Publisher:
 2019

Summary

Now in paperback—with a new preface by the author

Americans have long been protective of the country's sovereignty—all the way back to George Washington who, when retiring as president, admonished his successors to avoid “permanent” alliances with foreign powers. Ever since, the nation has faced periodic, often heated, debates about how to maintain that sovereignty, and whether and when it is appropriate to cede some of it in the form of treaties and the alliances about which Washington warned.

As the 2016 election made clear, sovereignty is also one of the most frequently invoked, polemical, and misunderstood concepts in politics—particularly American politics. The concept wields symbolic power, implying something sacred and inalienable: the right of the people to control their fate without subordination to outside authorities. Given its emotional pull, however, the concept is easily high-jacked by political opportunists. By playing the sovereignty card, they can curtail more reasoned debates over the merits of proposed international commitments by portraying supporters of global treaties or organizations as enemies of motherhood and apple pie.

Such polemics distract Americans from what is really at stake in the sovereignty debate: the ability of the United States to shape its destiny in a global age. The United States cannot successfully manage globalization, much less insulate itself from cross-border threats, on its own. As global integration deepens and cross-border challenges grow, the nation's fate is increasingly tied to that of other countries, whose cooperation will be needed to exploit the shared opportunities and mitigate the common risks of interdependence.

The Sovereignty Wars is intended to help today's policymakers think more clearly about what is actually at stake in the sovereignty debate and to provide some criteria for determining when it is appropriate to make bargains over sovereignty—and how to make them.

Keywords



Bibliographic data

Copyright year
2019
ISBN-Print
978-0-8157-3159-7
ISBN-Online
978-0-8157-3782-7
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
backcover1
Product type
Book Titles

Table of contents

ChapterPages
    1. Table of Contents No access
    2. Acknowledgments No access
    3. Abbreviations No access
    4. Preface to the Second Edition No access
  1. Introduction: The Sovereignty Wars No access Pages 1 - 27
  2. There's No Place Like Home: Sovereignty, American Style No access Pages 28 - 58
  3. Power and Interdependence: U.S. Sovereignty in the American Century No access Pages 59 - 96
  4. Do as I Say, Not as I Do: American Sovereignty and International Law No access Pages 97 - 141
  5. Don't Fence Me In: The Use of Force, Arms Control, and U.S. National Security No access Pages 142 - 171
  6. Stop the World, I Want to Get Off: Globalization and American Sovereignty No access Pages 172 - 195
  7. Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Immigration and Border Security No access Pages 196 - 216
  8. Don't Tread on Me: The United States and International Organizations No access Pages 217 - 251
  9. Conclusion; American Sovereignty and International Cooperation No access Pages 252 - 264
  10. Notes No access Pages 265 - 312
  11. Index No access Pages 313 - backcover1

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