Introduction to International Relations
Lecture 2 - Colonialism and the Sovereign State
Learning objectives:
- To gain an understanding of different framings of sovereignty
- To gain an understanding of European colonialism and its relationship with the state today
- To gain an understanding of postcolonial approaches to international relations
Examples of sovereignty:
● West Papua vs its coloniser, Indonesia
● Taiwan as a de facto independent state since 1949 vs China
● Brexit vs European Union
● Scotland vs UK
So, very different forms of the fight for sovereignty. The first two are not recognised as independent territories by the United
Nations and so are fighting for self determination. The Brexit example of course still recognises Britain as a major sovereign
power, however, Britain is still claiming that its sovereignty is being abused and Scotland has the ongoing historical push and pull
with Britain.
The Sovereign State in IR
● De facto internal supremacy
○ Absolute domestic political authority - is it possible and is it desirable?
■ State is considered to be sovereign because it has complete control over its population e.g. internal
affairs within its territory and decision-making
■ Revolution and rebellions may be used to argue against this
○ Power to decide in a crisis, deemed to be the legitimate ruler (consensual rule), who is for the most part in
charge?
● De facto external independence
○ Absolute independence from other states - is this possible and desirable?
■ Argument against - power of the United Nations and trade agreements, interrelations with other states
etc.
○ Participation in the international community
The above two conditions constitute de facto autonomy
● De jure independence
○ An independent constitution, judiciary, legal processes
○ However, this does not always hold up - Somaliland has its own constitution
“The actual behaviour of states helps to shape the meaning of sovereignty” - Fowler and Buncl
What is used to measure a state?
Montevideo Convention (1933) - a state must have:
, - A permanent population
- A defined territory
- Criticism: nomadic populations not included to have sovereign rights because they do not have fixed territory
- Government
- Capacity to enter into relations with the other states
Two theories on the recognition of a state: Declarative and Constitutive
(left) Basically in simpler terms: if an entity has these things, it
is automatically a state and does not need to seek validation
from others xx (e.g. USA)
However, these other two smaller quotes argue otherwise - how a
state can only truly function as a state once it is recognised by
other formed states - it also depends on WHO recognises you. If it
is a small state or a state like Taiwan, it is unlikely you would be taken seriously (unlike being recognised by the US, UK or
Germany in the UN).
, There are also states that are considered to be “fragile”:
The thing that this
index does not look at
is colonialism and its
legacy on the stability
of the ex-colonies.
Postcolonial/decolonial critique
● ‘Post’ refers to structuring effects of colonialism today
● The modern ‘state’ was born out of empire and so has inherent biases written into its structures
● The recognition of states as ‘sovereign’ is born out of west-centric views of empire
● Westphalian sovereignty
● Orientalism - the ‘creation’ of the ‘Orient’ by the west for productive reasons
● Coloniality of power - colonialism/modernity continuation
● The global colour line - race is an ordering technology throughout the world that sorts the free from the unfree
European colonialism
- Terra Nullius (nobody’s land) international legal
instrument
- Westphalian sovereignty rested upon the non-
recognition of the colonised communities which
justified the expansion of European settling
Lecture 2 - Colonialism and the Sovereign State
Learning objectives:
- To gain an understanding of different framings of sovereignty
- To gain an understanding of European colonialism and its relationship with the state today
- To gain an understanding of postcolonial approaches to international relations
Examples of sovereignty:
● West Papua vs its coloniser, Indonesia
● Taiwan as a de facto independent state since 1949 vs China
● Brexit vs European Union
● Scotland vs UK
So, very different forms of the fight for sovereignty. The first two are not recognised as independent territories by the United
Nations and so are fighting for self determination. The Brexit example of course still recognises Britain as a major sovereign
power, however, Britain is still claiming that its sovereignty is being abused and Scotland has the ongoing historical push and pull
with Britain.
The Sovereign State in IR
● De facto internal supremacy
○ Absolute domestic political authority - is it possible and is it desirable?
■ State is considered to be sovereign because it has complete control over its population e.g. internal
affairs within its territory and decision-making
■ Revolution and rebellions may be used to argue against this
○ Power to decide in a crisis, deemed to be the legitimate ruler (consensual rule), who is for the most part in
charge?
● De facto external independence
○ Absolute independence from other states - is this possible and desirable?
■ Argument against - power of the United Nations and trade agreements, interrelations with other states
etc.
○ Participation in the international community
The above two conditions constitute de facto autonomy
● De jure independence
○ An independent constitution, judiciary, legal processes
○ However, this does not always hold up - Somaliland has its own constitution
“The actual behaviour of states helps to shape the meaning of sovereignty” - Fowler and Buncl
What is used to measure a state?
Montevideo Convention (1933) - a state must have:
, - A permanent population
- A defined territory
- Criticism: nomadic populations not included to have sovereign rights because they do not have fixed territory
- Government
- Capacity to enter into relations with the other states
Two theories on the recognition of a state: Declarative and Constitutive
(left) Basically in simpler terms: if an entity has these things, it
is automatically a state and does not need to seek validation
from others xx (e.g. USA)
However, these other two smaller quotes argue otherwise - how a
state can only truly function as a state once it is recognised by
other formed states - it also depends on WHO recognises you. If it
is a small state or a state like Taiwan, it is unlikely you would be taken seriously (unlike being recognised by the US, UK or
Germany in the UN).
, There are also states that are considered to be “fragile”:
The thing that this
index does not look at
is colonialism and its
legacy on the stability
of the ex-colonies.
Postcolonial/decolonial critique
● ‘Post’ refers to structuring effects of colonialism today
● The modern ‘state’ was born out of empire and so has inherent biases written into its structures
● The recognition of states as ‘sovereign’ is born out of west-centric views of empire
● Westphalian sovereignty
● Orientalism - the ‘creation’ of the ‘Orient’ by the west for productive reasons
● Coloniality of power - colonialism/modernity continuation
● The global colour line - race is an ordering technology throughout the world that sorts the free from the unfree
European colonialism
- Terra Nullius (nobody’s land) international legal
instrument
- Westphalian sovereignty rested upon the non-
recognition of the colonised communities which
justified the expansion of European settling
