“Responsible sovereignty”. The new Orwellian term to justify new wars on countries they deem unfit. Like Libya and Iraq.
Increasing interdependence of states a key feature of international relations today
The former British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, on Saturday said the increasing interdependence of states was a key feature of international relations today, and it was necessary to have a shared doctrine on how to manage such interdependency.
Arguing that the Westphalian notion of national sovereignty was no more absolute, Mr. Miliband said what was needed was “responsible sovereignty” by which a nation could be questioned if it abused the rights of its citizens or caused injury to global interests, especially the global commons.
Delivering a talk here on “The Emerging New World Order: Economics and Politics,” the Labour MP for South Shields raised the question: “Who is to stand up for citizens when they are abused by their own government?” Further, actions of a nation-state could affect people in another side of the world. In such situations, for instance, concerning the situation in Syria, the world had a legitimate right to comment on its treatment of its citizens.
Borrowing a metaphor used by the former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who compared managing international relations in the Cold War era to navigating a ship in the Suez Canal — where one had to be slow and straight — Mr. Miliband said that in the post-Cold War era, it was like steering a ship in the English Channel — “one could see land within 26 miles, from Dover to Calais.” However, in the “post-post-Cold War era”, “It is like being on the high seas, you can’t see land, you don’t have a good compass, and navigators have to find land in a new environment.”