Practise reading modern press. Станкова Т.Ю. - 8 стр.

has a keen instinct for survival and has so far adapted to new challenges
— even the challenge of globalization.
      Sovereignty was never quite as vibrant as many contemporary
observers suggest. The conventional norms of sovereignty have always
been challenged. A few states, most notably the United States, have
had autonomy, control, and recognition for most of their existence,
but most others have not. The politiñs of many weaker states have
been persistently penetrated, and stronger nations have not been
immune to external influence. China was occupied. The constitutional
arrangements of Japan and Germany were directed by the United
States after World War II. The United Kingdom, despite its rejection
of the euro, is part of the European Union.
      Even for weaker states — whose domestic structures have been
influenced by outside actors, and whose leaders have very little control
over transborder movements or even activities within their own
country — sovereignty remains attractive. Although sovereignty might
provide little more than international recognition, that recognition
guarantees access to international organizations and sometimes to
international finance. It offers status to individual leaders. While the
great powers of Europe have eschewed many elements of sovereignty,
the United States, China, and Japan have neither the interest nor
the inclination to abandon their usually effective claims to domestic
autonomy.
      In various parts of the world, national borders still represent
the fault lines of conflict, whether it is Israelis and Palestinians
fighting over the status of Jerusalem, Indians and Pakistanis
threatening to go nuclear over Kashmir, or Ethiopia and Eritrea
clashing over disputed territories. Yet commentators nowadays are
mostly concerned about the erosion of national borders as a
consequence of globalization. Governments and activists alike
complain that multilateral institutions such as the United Nations,
the World Trade Organization, and the Internaional Monetary Fund
overstep their authority by promoting universal standards for
everything from human rights and the environment to monetary
policy and immigration. However, the most important impact of
economic globalization and transnational norms will be to alter the
scope of state authority rather than to generate some fundamentally
new way to organize political life.



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