After 30 years of strife, bloodshed and despair, the
war between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire came to an end in 1648
when the Treaty of Westphalia was signed. The signed treaty guaranteed that all
states had the right to choose their own religion and was no longer forced to
accept that which the Vatican laid down.[1]
This idea of ultimate authority within a defined territory was the beginnings
of the concept of Sovereignty.
Today, sovereignty is considered the supreme authority within a clear
set of borders and is viewed as the defining attribute of statehood. Internal
Sovereignty (the license to exercise ultimate decision-making within a given
territory) and External Sovereignty (the notion that all states are equal in
the international arena) are the two components of the general concept.[2]
The documentary, “Americas: Get Up, Stand
Up: Problems of Sovereignty,” explores the reality that American
nation-states encounter when trying to assert their sovereignty.
Jamaica—who gained
independence in 1962—was used as an example to show a newly formed nation’s
path in assuring her sovereignty. The documentary highlighted the unfair
bauxite royalty agreement the new nation had inherited and its attempt to
correct it. Then Prime Minister, Michael Manley, emerged from the negotiations
with the bauxite companies victorious. This was one instant in which Jamaica
certified her right to be an equal on the international stage. Manley’s goal of
creating a self-dependent Socialist state was also another means of attempting
to guarantee sovereignty.
However, this did more to destroy the cause than help it, as fearing a
Socialist government, many foreign investors pulled out of the country. Coupled
with the world oil crisis of the 1970s, Jamaica’s economy plummeted and entered
into a recession.
Edward Seaga, the leader of Jamaica’s
opposition party, used the disastrous economic conditions of the Manley era to
win the 1980 election. Seaga kept his promise of having foreign investor return
to the island in hopes that this would boost the economy. Despite this, the
profits that these companies and investors brought with them were unequally
distributed. With a significant portion remaining in the upper crust of the
society, the poor and average Jamaican’s economic situation remained unchanged.
Realising that the policies of the Seaga lead government did not benefit the
majority, the people once again turned towards Michael Manley in 1989.
Nevertheless, this was not the Socialist Manley of the 1970s. He opted to
continue the capitalist policies of his predecessor and so the people remained
in poverty. This continued state of need, gave birth to a rise in gang activity
and the gunmen who sustain it. This has become another threat to Jamaican
sovereignty as the government seems locked in a persisting war with the gunmen
to maintain control of the nation.
Sovereignty
in the Americas is not only a problem for small-island, newly formed states but
a true portrait of sovereignty has also managed to elude larger more
established nations like Colombia. The documentary shows the decades old
struggle between the government and the guerillas of the rural area, who have
their own laws and taxation process. These simulated states are the products of
years of political discontent, but they are allowed to continue, as the
government tends to concentrate on more urban areas.
Regardless of the guerillas’ threat to Colombian
sovereignty, the single greatest danger is the drug trade. The desperation of
the poor, who feel the government has abandoned them, is the unlikely sustainer
of this business that brings with it a culture of fear and violence. The trade
has far reaching influences and many feel that the trafficking and traffickers
have overshadowed the state and politicians respectively. Some citizens have
resorted to forming their own local law enforcement groups to combat narcotic
induced violence. This all serve to further underline the belief that the
government has lost control of the nation.
The
United States of America, while trying to protect its citizens from the evils
of illegal drug, made an arrangement with Colombia that stipulated the
Colombian government would extradite its drug dealers to the United States for
trial. However, the United States’ direct interference with Colombia’s internal
affairs, succeeded in undermining the country’s claim to ultimate authority
within its borders and helped to habour more resentment towards the government.
Soon enough, the extradition agreement ended and Colombia decided to tackle her
problems without international intervention.
The documentary’s examples have demonstrated that
sovereignty is no clear issue. Jamaica’s economic dependence on other
international actors and her difficulty combating criminality have undermined
both her external and internal sovereignty. Similarly, Colombia’s on going war
with the guerillas and drug dealers and her willingness to follow American
dictate, have also undermined both aspects of its sovereignty. The video allows
us to ponder if sovereignty is the defining component of statehood, then by definition
these countries at one period or another could not be called states.
Michael Manley declared that it is an illusion to
think anyone enjoys real sovereignty—the freedom to do whatever one likes—but
for smaller countries like Jamaica it is harder because of economic dependence
on larger nations. Columbia, after the extradition fiasco, drafted a new
constitution in attempt to reassert her sovereignty. With everything in account, the documentary appears
to prove true the Orwellian idea that while all states are equal, some are
indeed more equal than others (Kegley and Wittkopf 1989).
[1] Compton’s New Century
Encyclopeadia and Reference Collection, 4th ed., s.v “Thirty Years’ War.”
[2] Graham Evans and Jeffrey
Newnham, eds., Penguin Dictionary of International Relations (London:
The
Penguin Group, 1998) s.v. “Sovereignty.”