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Abstract
Conventional wisdom holds that globalization, and its specific contributing factors such as immigration, information technology, and the emergence of universal values that inform international law, poses a challenge to state sovereignty. This article analyzes this assertion by examining one case, which encompasses each of these factors. Following a review of the literature, this article describes the efforts, using information and communication technologies, of the Egyptian Copt diaspora to advocate for human rights and improved quality of life of Copts residing in Egypt. We conclude that while the theory and practice of state sovereignty are certainly evolving and increasingly complex, the essence of state sovereignty is not necessarily challenged by these trends and may even be supported by them.
Notes
1. International Organization for Migration. World Migration Report 2000; Geneva, 2000.
2. Jacobsen, M.; Lawson, S. Between Globalization and Localization: A Case Study of Human Rights Versus State Sovereignty. Global Governance 1999, 5 (2), 203–220; see also Greig, J.M. The End of Geography? Globalization, Communications, and Culture in the International System. Journal of Conflict Resolution 2002, 46 (2), 225–243. Barber (1995) argues, to the contrary, that while information technology does facilitate the diffusion of universal values it also facilitates increasing parochialism. Thus Barber notes that terrorist networks also rely on information technology for both their internal organization and the external promotion of their message (Barber, B.R. Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World; Ballantine Books: New York:, 1995). Elkins confirms such parochialism, pointing out that with information technology individuals can more easily selectively pursue information and interaction opportunities (Elkins, D. Globalization, Telecommunication, and Virtual Ethnic Communities. International Political Science Review 1997, 18, 139–152). However, Greig 2002 (op. cit.) found that Elkins’ thesis only holds for limited increases in the range of communication and that larger increases tend towards homogeneity.
4. Krasner offers a range of such examples, including the challenges of particular territories such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Palestine, and the need to respond to humanitarian crises and ethnic conflicts, such as in Bosnia. (Krasner, S.D., Ed. Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities; Columbia University Press: New York, 2001b.)
7. Heller, Thomas C.; Sofaer, Abraham D. Sovereignty: The Practitioners’ Perspective. In Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities; Krasner, Stephen D., Ed.; Columbia University Press: New York, 2001; 24–52; Montgomery, John D. Sovereignty in Transition. In How Governments Respond: Sovereignty Under Challenge; Montgomery, John D., Glazer, Nathan, Eds.; Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick and London, 2002; 3–30.
8. Krasner, S.D. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy; Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1999; Krasner, Stephen D. Problematic Sovereignty. In Problematic Sovereignty: Contested Rules and Political Possibilities; Krasner, Stephen D., Ed; Columbia University Press: New York, 2001a, 1–23.
9. Philpott, 1997; 26.
11. For example, there is a long theoretical history (e.g., Althusius, qtd. in Boli 2001, op. cit.) arguing that sovereignty ultimately rests with the people. This perspective was later embodied in the idea of the social contract, and became an important rallying point for the French and American revolutions and subsequent democratic political systems.
12. Krasner, 1999.
13. Krasner, 2001a, 6.
14. Krasner, 2001a; Philpott, 1997; Boli, 2001.
15. Krasner, 2001a.
16. See Boli, 2001.
17. Boli, 2001; 59.
18. Montgomery, 2002.
19. Heller and Sofaer, 2001; 41.
21. For example, the Alien Tort Claims Act allows victims of torture and other human rights abuses to file claims against individuals, governments, and multinational corporations in U.S. federal courts. In response to a recent case against Unocal in Burma, the Justice Department filed a brief challenging the continuing legality of the act. It argues that the cases may inhibit national security as they can interfere with foreign policy objectives, notably with allies in the war against terrorism. Because two Federal Courts have filed contradictory findings the issue may reach the Supreme Court (see Eggin, D.; Lane, C. White House Seeks to Curb Rights Cases from Abroad: U.S. Fears Effect on Diplomatic Ties. Washington Post, May 30, 2003, A1, 8.)
23. See Lavie, S., Swedenburg, T., Eds. Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity; Duke University Press: Durham and London, 1996.; see also Friedman, J. Cultural Identity and Global Process; Sage Publications: London and Thousand Oaks, CA, 1984.
25. Wallis, Roy; Bruce, Steve. Secularization: The Orthodox Model. In Religion and Modernization: Sociologists and Historians Debate the Secularization Thesis; Bruce, Steve, Ed.; Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1992; 8–30; qtd. in Haynes, Jeff. Religion, Secularisation, and Politics: A Postmodern Conspectus. Third World Quarterly 1997, 18 (4), 714–715.
27. See, for example, Faist, T. ‘Extension du domaine de la lutte’: International Migration and Security Before and After September 11, 2001. International Migration Review 2002, 36 (1), 7–14; see also Weiner, M. The Global Migration Crisis: Challenge to States and Human Rights; Harper Collins: New York, 1995.
28. See, for example, Byman, D., Ed. Trends in Outside Support for Insurgent Movements; Rand Corporation: Santa Monica, CA, 2001; King, C.; Melvin, N.J. Diaspora Politics: Ethnic Linkages, Foreign Policy, and Security in Eurasia. International Security 1999/2000, 24 (3), 108–138; Cohen, 1996; Shain, Y. Ethnic Diasporas and U.S. Foreign Policy. Political Science Quarterly 1994–1995, 109 (5), 811–841; Shain, Y. Marketing the American Creed Abroad: Diasporas in the U.S. and Their Homeland; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 1999.
29. Shain, 1999.
31. See Neuman, G.L. Strangers to the Constitution: Immigrants, Borders, and Fundamental Law; Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1996.; Benhabib, S. Citizens, Residents and Aliens in a Changing world: Political Membership in the Global Era. Social Research 1999, 66 (3), 709–744, 710. For a discussion of these concerns in the post-September 11, 2001 environment, see Faist, 2002.
32. See Alexseev, Mikhail A. Desecuritizing Sovereignty: Economic Interest and Responses to Political Challenges of Chinese Migration in the Russian Far East. In How Governments Respond: Sovereignty Under Challenge; Montgomery, John D., Glazer, Nathan, Eds; Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick and London, 2002; 261–289.
34. Wilson, E.J., III. Globalization, Information Technology and Conflict in the Second and Third Worlds: A Critical Review of the Literature. Project on World Security; Rockefeller Brothers Foundation: New York, 1998. Perhaps the most unique challenges to state sovereignty enabled by information technology concern the assertion of sovereignty through the domain name system (see Steinberg, P. E.; McDowell, S.D. Mutiny on the Bandwidth: The Semiotics of Statehood in the Internet Domain Name Registries of Pitcairn Island and Niue. New Media & Society 2003, 15 (1), 47–67) and the emergence of cyber-states, such as Cyber-Yugoslavia (http://www.juga.com).
36. Philpott, 1997; 23.
37. Weigel, G. Religion and Peace: An Argument Complexified. Washington Quarterly 1991, 14 (Spring), 24–27; qtd. in Haynes, J. Transnational Religious Actors and International Politics. Third World Quarterly 2001, 22 (2), 143–158.
38. Weigel, 1991.
39. For the Campaign to Ban Landmines, see Cameron, M. A., Ed. To Walk Without Fear: The Global Movement to Ban Landmines; Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1998.; Warkentin, C.; Mingst, K. International Institutions, the State, and Global Civil Society in the Age of the World Wide Web. Global Governance 2000, 6 (2), 237–256. For the World Commission on Dams, see Brinkerhoff, J. Global Public Policy, Partnership, and the Case of the World Commission on Dams. Public Administration Review 2002, 62 (3), 317–329.
43. Thakur, 2002; 324.
44. Jacobsen and Lawson, 1999.
45. For an historical view of how human rights influence state sovereignty, and a normative argument for why this should be so, see Falk, R. A. Human Rights and State Sovereignty; Homes & Meier Publishers: New York, 1981.
46. Heller and Sofaer, 2001; 41.
47. Elkins, 1997; see also Rowe, P.S. Four Guys and a Fax Machine? Diasporas, New Information Technologies, and the Internationalization of Religion in Egypt. Journal of Church and State 2001, 43 (1), 81–92.
48. See, for example, Sharma, A. Muckraking Mullahs. Foreign Policy 2002, May/June, 99. In his treatise on the Falungong, Chung notes that the impact of such phenomena may be much more significant for reforming socialist systems that have been accustomed to near omnipotent regulatory powers (Chung, Jae Ho. Challenging the State: Falungong and Regulatory Dilemmas in China. In How Governments Respond: Sovereignty Under Challenge; Montgomery, John D., Glazer, Nathan, Eds; Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick and London, 2002; 83–106). For further discussion of the role of information technology in promoting liberalization and democratization, see Kalathil and Boas (Kalathil, S.; Boas, T.C. Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Washington, DC; 2003).
49. Heller and Sofaer, 2001; 26.
50. Shain, 1994–1995; Shain, 1999.
52. Fox, 1997; 108.
53. Fox, 1997; 108.
55. For example, there are other Copt diaspora organizations (such as www.MyCopticChurch.org) that do not necessarily have an overt political agenda but, instead, focus on history, culture and religion.
56. Two interviews were conducted, November 25, 2002, and December 17, 2002 (Meunier, M. President and CEO, U.S. Copts Association. Personal interview by authors). Secondary data includes U.S. State Department reports, journal articles, and media coverage. Additional information regarding the activities of the U.S. Copts Association is taken from the website, Copts.com.
57. Rowe, 2001; Ibrahim, Y.M. U.S. Bill Has Egypt's Copts Squirming. New York Times, 1998, April 12, I 10.
60. Recently, Meunier began supporting the formation of a Canadian Coptic Coalition and has solicited assistance from the U.S. Copts Association through its web page and interactive information components.
62. U.S. Copts Association, 2003.
65. U.S. Department of State, 2002a.
66. Meunier 2002b. Two interviews were conducted, November 25, 2002, and December 17, 2002 (Meunier, M. President and CEO, U.S. Copts Association. Personal interview by authors).
67. Rowe, 2001.
68. Kalathil and Boas (2003; 123) suggest that the Egyptian government refrains from regulating the Internet because users are mainly Egyptian elites. Thus, for example, one regularly finds that the online versions of Egyptian newspapers are much more forthcoming about human rights abuses than their hard-copy versions.
69. Meunier 2002b. Two interviews were conducted, November 25, 2002, and December 17, 2002 (Meunier, M. President and CEO, U.S. Copts Association. Personal interview by authors).
70. In March 2003, the Copts Board of Directors found it necessary to place further restrictions on posts, in response to complaints about the length and content of the Digest. Thus, the board decided that postings could not exceed 30 lines, or one page, or 500 words. Postings relating to theological questions also would not be accepted—though it should be noted that seven days after distributing these “rules” over the digest, a discussion about theological interpretation developed.
71. U.S. Copts Association, Copt Digest, January 9, 2003.
72. Ibrahim, 1998; qtd. in Rowe, 2001.
73. Meunier 2002a. Two interviews were conducted, November 25, 2002, and December 17, 2002 (Meunier, M. President and CEO, U.S. Copts Association. Personal interview by authors).
74. The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies focuses on human rights in Egypt generally but, as a consequence, publishes reports that are specific to the Egyptian Copts. In December 2002, a retrial was ordered and Dr. Ibrahim was released; he was acquitted of all charges in March 2003.
75. Shain, 1994–1995.
76. Hashmi, 1997; 9.
77. Benhabib, 1999.
78. Glazer, 2002.
79. See, for example, http://www.MyCopticChurch.com.
80. Haynes, 1997.
81. Wallis and Bruce, 1992.
82. Boli, 2001.
83. Esman, 2002; 389.
84. Esman, 2002; 389.
