Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The fundamental implication of the rise of unipolarity is that it has brought a shift in the
underlying logic of order and rule in world politics. In a bipolar or multipolar system, power-
ful states rule in the process of leading a coalition of states to balance against other states.
When the system shifts to unipolarity, this logic of rule disappears. Power is no longer based
on balancing and equilibrium but on the predominance of one state. This is new and differ-
ent—and potentially threatening to weaker and secondary states. As a result, the power of
the leading state is rendered salient and worrisome. Unipolar power itself becomes a problem
in world politics. As John Lewis Gaddis argues, American power during the Cold War was
accepted by other states because there was “something worse” over the horizon. 40 With the
rise of unipolarity, that “something worse” disappears.
Eroding Norms of State Sovereignty
A more gradual and quiet transformation of the Westphalian system involves the unfolding
of the postwar human rights revolution and the erosion of the norms of state sovereignty.
The international community is increasingly seen to have legitimate interests in what goes
on within countries. Sovereignty is more contingent, increasingly a legal right that must be
earned. 41
The human rights revolution is deeply embedded in the postwar liberal international pro-
ject. It was liberals—wielding liberal ideas about world order—who pushed forward the cam-
paign for international recognition of human rights. The breakthrough was the Universal De-
claration of Human Rights adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 1948. Cham-
pioned by liberals such as Eleanor Roosevelt and others, this document articulated a notion of
universal individual rights that deserved recognition by the whole of mankind and not simply
left to sovereign governments to define and enforce. 42 A steady stream of conventions and
treaties followed that together constitute an extraordinary vision of rights, individuals, sover-
eignty, and global order. 43
The international human rights movement was effectively launched in the 1940s. Americ-
an postwar planners brought to their tasks notions of security, justice, and governance forged
within the United States during the New Deal. Roosevelt and Truman were clearly sobered
by the failure of the League of Nations but convinced nonetheless that a new global order
committed to human rights, collective security, and economic advancement was necessary
to avoid the return to war. In various postwar institutional initiatives—the United Nations,
Bretton Woods, and the human rights conventions—a new synthesis of ideas about security,
human rights, international law, and institutional cooperation informed American efforts. 44
In this way, the notion was established that Westphalian sovereignty was not absolute and
that the international community had a moral and legal claim on the protection of individuals
within states.
 
 
 
 
 
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