Lecture 4: The Challenge of Sovereignty PDF

Lecture 4 Lecture 4 THE CHALLENGE OF SOVEREIGNTY The Making of the European Nation-State  2/21 Guiding questions What is the importance of the Peace of Westph...

Lecture 4 Lecture 4 THE CHALLENGE OF SOVEREIGNTY The Making of the European Nation-State  2/21 Guiding questions What is the importance of the Peace of Westphalia? How does Garner describe Weber’s three types of legitimacy? Based on Garner, how did the reasons for obeying the state change around the 17 th century? What does Tilly mean by “war made the state and the state made war” What is a “nation-state”? What are the four core features of the definition of the modern European state? What are the two main functions of the modern state? Explain and exemplify the differences between unitary, federal and confederal states. Readings: Hirst, Chapter 9 Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, pp.53-54 and pp.173-178  3/21 Humanism Enlightenment Individualism Rationality Secularism European Values  4/21 Political Challenges 1. The Challenge of Religion (lectures 1, 2, 3 on European history) 2. The Challenge of Sovereignty (lecture 4 on the European nation state) 3. The Challenge of Checking Power (lecture 5 and 6 on the history and functioning of Democracy) 4. The Challenge of Unchecked Power (lecture 7 on Authoritarianism) 5. Checked Power in Practice (lecture 8 on the Branches of Government) 6. The Challenge of Accurate Representation (lectures 9, 10 and 11 on Ideologies and Political Parties) 7. The Challenge of Fair Representation (lecture 12 on Elections) 8. The Challenge of Freedom beyond the State (lecture 13 on Civil Society)  5/21 Challenge of battling sovereignties The EU is a collection of sovereign national states Brexit: challenge to EU unity Hungary, Poland: question primacy of EU legislation Reintroduction of border checks Opt-outs Tensions between national and supranational levels  6/21 Time frame From middle of 17th century (1648) until today  7/21 The rise of the sovereign national state The Enlightenment changed both ideas and political realities. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/2400-years-of-european-history/  8/21 Peace of Westphalia – 1648: state sovereignty Each state is independent in its internal affairs: principle of non- interference. Political authority within a state’s borders belongs only to the rulers of that state, not to external actors like the Pope or the Holy Roman Emperor. The state The state is a Between becomes a Before "wasp", " a the 17th “locomotive”: small the 17th ”a powerful inconvenience and 19th century driver of social to the people century and economic that it ruled" development”  Why obey the state? 9/21 Three types of legitimacy Garner et al., p.53-54 Legitimacy = right to rule On which grounds/authority? Max Weber distinguishes between: Traditional authority: traditional customs and values Charismatic authority: personality of the ruler. Rational-legal authority: system of collectively agreed rules. Appears in modern bureaucratic states where the personal aspect is replaced with the authority of the office and the publicly received mandate. One respects and obeys the office, not the person of the ruler. impersonal public authority with a Personal continuous identity allegiance to a that transcends ruler due to individual leaders tradition or charisma rule-based allegiance to the “state”  10/21 “War made the state and the state made war” Garner at al., p.174 Famous quote by historian Charles Tilly. The creation of the modern state linked to the need to raise funds for fighting. Led to new ways of extracting money: taxes Importance of the bureaucracy: impersonal, meritocratic rule-based and goal-oriented. State officials are no longer personal servants of the ruler. French revolution (Garner at al., p.177-178) taxation for ALL citizens modern mass army in the service of the “nation” rather than the king.  11/21 The power of nationalism Counterbalance to the idea of the Enlightment that all humans are the same Sees humans as naturally organized in groups: “nations” defined by a set of features: ethnicity, language, religion, history, rituals. The nation-state: idea that each nation must have its state (its political representation) is the core of nationalism as a political ideology. In Europe in the 19th century many groups/nations did not have a state. 1815  12/21 19th century: unification of A Europe of sovereign nation-states Germany and Italy End of WW1: Woodrow Wilson 14 points and ”self determination” Dismemberment of multinational empires: Habsburg, Ottoman, Tzarist. Then, the European model spread throughout the globe via: European colonialism in Africa, Asia and Latin America or through emulation by others wanting to compete with the “West”: Turkey, Japan. Garner at al., pp.175-76 The State: definition 1. a geographic territory, 2. an identifiable population that lives within these boundaries, 3. a government 4. internationally recognized Set in international law by the Montevideo Convention of 1933  14/21 Sovereignty The sovereign is the ultimate decision maker. In democracies, the people is the sovereign. All modern states have sovereignty: The ability to act within a territory, independently from internal or external rivals. Internal: supreme authority domestically External: independence and international recognition 14  15/21 What does the state do? 1. Protects its territory and the population within it, Max Weber: “monopoly of legitimate violence.” 2. Provides “collective goods”, has institutions that help society function (laws, regulation, taxation, infrastructure). Government: leadership that runs the state  16/21 Unitary and federal states Type of state Unitary Federal Features Power Most power at the national level. Central government and regional Central government is superior to governments share power and regional governments. have specific authority on which the other cannot encroach. Regional authority Little Considerable Sovereignty Exclusively held by central Dual sovereignty. institutions. Shared between central and regional institutions. Division formally enshrined in the constitution.  17/21 ?  18/21 Blue: unitary Green: federal 19/21  20/21 Separatism in Europe Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBL48QRjR0o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEUUQK9yebU 20  Concepts Peace of Westphalia Sovereignty The state The nation-state Nationalism Legitimacy and 3 types of authority, Weber (traditional, charismatic and legal-rational) Unitary and federal states