One of the things that the speaker said that stayed with me was “smaller states seek cooperation”. He used the analogy of the United States, and how because there are so many little states, we feel more unified; as opposed to having a large grouping of states together and seeking unity. It is undeniable that we are moving towards a more global society- everything and everyone is somehow connected to neighbors across the globe through technological advances and political agendas. However, integration through supernatural means is not a necessity. It can surely be a useful tool in creating cooperative work and allowing nations to establish common goals as economic markets expand and political missions begin to overlap, but I believe that nations can function as independent entities because they will most likely always seek to protect sovereign interests.
Although it is ideal that a global society would work cooperatively for the betterment of the entire group as a whole, I am not so naive to believe that most nations would sacrifice their best interests for the interests of others, and in many cases, I feel as though that is what supernatural integration would entail. Although economically and politically, nations will essentially be forced to work together as they are now as wars and markets fluctuate, I don’t believe that they will necessarily become integrated. In fact, I would think it would be somewhat abnormal if they did because of how antithetical it would be to a nation’s interest to bow sovereignty in order to work for a common good. The liberal theorist would hate me right now because of my seemingly negative perspective, but I truly believe that although we are moving towards an entirely global community, we may in fact seek to polarize ourselves against “common interests”. Regardless of how universal our world will become one day, I just can’t definitively state that the only way we’ll ever be able to exist as a global society would be through some means of supernatural integration.
Rebecca--
ReplyDeleteI agree that supranational integration is not the sole way to advance in today's global society, and may not necessarily come about for the entire world. However, the EU is one of the primary examples of this integration globally, and I do not think that members of the EU have to sacrifice their best interests to serve others. If joining the EU had no benefits, countries would not have joined in the first place. Through the EU, nations benefit from protection, a common currency, an improved international persona, and social policy. I think the benefits gained far outweigh the loss of a slight percent of the nation's independence.