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LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

It all comes down to identity: An examination of the European Union’s stance on Ukrainian sovereignty

Ackerberg, Elin LU (2015) STVK02 20142
Department of Political Science
Abstract
That sovereignty is losing its importance within international politics is a commonly occurring claim. When adopted by realists it is used as describing the end of an era where predictions of state behaviour were easily made. When concluded by liberalists, it is seen as marking the transit to a new era where the view on an international system as defined by cooperation due to common interests. This essay will examine the way we look at sovereignty today in order to find an alternative explanation to the above mentioned competing views. Is it possible to use a model to describe sovereignty in all its complexity or will we have to accept that it is a constructed concept which will never truly be definable?

By focusing on the sanctions... (More)
That sovereignty is losing its importance within international politics is a commonly occurring claim. When adopted by realists it is used as describing the end of an era where predictions of state behaviour were easily made. When concluded by liberalists, it is seen as marking the transit to a new era where the view on an international system as defined by cooperation due to common interests. This essay will examine the way we look at sovereignty today in order to find an alternative explanation to the above mentioned competing views. Is it possible to use a model to describe sovereignty in all its complexity or will we have to accept that it is a constructed concept which will never truly be definable?

By focusing on the sanctions imposed by the EU towards Russia due to the Ukraine conflict, this essay will take a stance on a framework developed by Stephen Krasner, dividing sovereignty into four categories: Westphalian sovereignty, domestic sovereignty, legal international sovereignty and interdependence sovereignty. The purpose is to examine to what extent this model provides a reliable explanation for sovereignty in an international context. By analysing the rhetoric used by the EU in explaining the situation in Ukraine, the idea of the importance of a national identity will also be added into the discussion. Concluding that Krasner’s model fails to take into account all dimensions of the concept of sovereignty, a suggestion will be made that we do also take into consideration social sovereignty. (Less)
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author
Ackerberg, Elin LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20142
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
sovereignty, EU, the Ukraine conflict, national identity, social sovereignty, Westphalian sovereignty, interdependence sovereignty, legal international sovereignty, domestic sovereignty
language
English
id
4924584
date added to LUP
2015-02-28 17:06:57
date last changed
2015-02-28 17:06:57
@misc{4924584,
  abstract     = {{That sovereignty is losing its importance within international politics is a commonly occurring claim. When adopted by realists it is used as describing the end of an era where predictions of state behaviour were easily made. When concluded by liberalists, it is seen as marking the transit to a new era where the view on an international system as defined by cooperation due to common interests. This essay will examine the way we look at sovereignty today in order to find an alternative explanation to the above mentioned competing views. Is it possible to use a model to describe sovereignty in all its complexity or will we have to accept that it is a constructed concept which will never truly be definable?

By focusing on the sanctions imposed by the EU towards Russia due to the Ukraine conflict, this essay will take a stance on a framework developed by Stephen Krasner, dividing sovereignty into four categories: Westphalian sovereignty, domestic sovereignty, legal international sovereignty and interdependence sovereignty. The purpose is to examine to what extent this model provides a reliable explanation for sovereignty in an international context. By analysing the rhetoric used by the EU in explaining the situation in Ukraine, the idea of the importance of a national identity will also be added into the discussion. Concluding that Krasner’s model fails to take into account all dimensions of the concept of sovereignty, a suggestion will be made that we do also take into consideration social sovereignty.}},
  author       = {{Ackerberg, Elin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{It all comes down to identity: An examination of the European Union’s stance on Ukrainian sovereignty}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}