Carlos Moya: My Paper Proposal

Sovereignty is a living concept where the juxtaposition arguments are on one side saying a country cannot violate the sovereingty of another country. The opposition argues that in extreme cases such as massive killings or genecide, the concept of sovereignty can be overriden. The argument I will develop is about how sovereignty is an elite social-constructed concept and that its practicality and applicability in real life is not reflected on the results in the form of governance. For instance I will talk about the Mexican Cartels and how the thousands of people who perish due to the incessant war between drug cartels and the Mexican 

government is different from that in Rwanda where millions of people were massively killed.

The question is How the example of Mexican cartels is different from the example of Rwanda and its genocide proportions? The one characteristic that both of these countries share is the large amount of people being killed, whether it is thousands or millions, the loss of human life should be an immediate sign to act and there should be no doubts to take a decision given the circumstances that human lives are at risk. I will focus on the United States because in the case of Rwanda, the U.S had a chance to intervene and supersede the concept of sovereignty but no action upon this atrocity was undertaken. On the other hand, Mexican cartels are neighboring the United States' borders and knowing the fact that people are dying in increasing numbers, the U.S decides not to intervene because the concept of sovereignty explicitly states that no country should intervene in another country's internal affairs and that each country should be able to control and manage all domestic affairs at their own discretion and capabilities; even though the United States is the biggest drug cartel market that it exists.

Why does the concept of sovereignty seem to have an albitrary implementation? Why is sovereignty being superseded? Who can interpret its definition and when is ignore and when is it respected? How does the elite help promote the idea of sovereignty? Is sovereignty socially constructed and an elite-driven concept?

Sources:

1. Wendt, Alexander. CONSTRUCTING INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. Diss. Yale University, MIT Press, Web. <http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2539217?uid=2134&uid=373710471&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=373710461&uid=60&sid=21102841914857>.

2. Casey, Nicholas. "Mexican Cartel Retaliates Against Civilians." THE WALLSTREET JOURNAL. n. page. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579163840007600858>.

3. Jolis, Anne. "Rwanda's Genocide: The Untold Story." THE WALLSTREET JOURNAL. n. page. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704240004575085214201591380>.

4. Liu, Ken, and Chris Taylor. "THE WAR ON MEXICAN CARTELS OPTIONS FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN POLICY-MAKERS." n. page. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.iop.harvard.edu/sites/default/files_new/research-policy-papers/TheWarOnMexicanCartels.pdf>.

5.Fausset, Richard. "U.S. spied on Mexico's Felipe Calderon, leak reportedly shows." LOS ANGELES TIMES20 10 2013, n. pag. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mexico-spying-20131021,0,3047873.story