Garcia, Nehemiah B.
BSN 2Y2 – 2A
TLWD 111
1.What are the characteristics of a sovereign state? Can you consider the Philippines a sovereign state?
2.How does international law affect the laws of the sovereign state?
3.Explain how the transnational actors influence global governance.
4.Does a sovereign state have to adhere to international law?
5.Can a sovereign state ignore issues that are outside its boundaries? Why or why not?
ANSWER:
1. What are the characteristics of a sovereign state? Can you consider the Philippines a
sovereign state?
- State, nation, and country are all terms that describe groups of people who live in the same
place and have a great deal in common. But while states and sovereign states are political
entities, nations and countries might or might not be.
A sovereign state (sometimes called an independent state) has the following qualities:
- Space or territory that has internationally recognized boundaries
- People who live there on an ongoing basis
- Regulations governing foreign and domestic trade
- The ability to issue legal tender that is recognized across boundaries
- An internationally recognized government that provides public services and police power
and has the right to make treaties, wage war, and take other actions on behalf of its people
- Sovereignty, meaning that no other state should have power over the country's territory
Yes, I would say that the Philippines is a sovereign country, it is stated in the Philippine Preamble
in Philippine Constitution 1987. This being said the Philippines is a unitary state which has a
president, it is a democratic and constitutional republic where the president functions as both head
of the state and the head of the government. The country also has a multi party system
2. How does international law affect the laws of the sovereign state?
- Because of the notion of state sovereignty, international law may only be as effective as the
extent of the country's true, honest participation in making and following the international
laws and treaties that they agree to. To the extent that a state may halfheartedly participate
in an international agreement only with the hope of making other countries happy,
enforcing international law can be a challenge.
3. Explain how the transnational actors influence global governance.
- The nature of global governance is changing, as are the standards by which we judge its
legitimacy. We are witnessing a gradual and partial shift from inter-state co-operation to
more complex forms of governance, involving participation by transnational actors, such as
NGOs, party associations, philanthropic foundations and corporations. They are important
in building and strengthening intergovernmental treaties and organizations to protect the
environment. For example of the effect of transnational actors influencing the global
governance here in the Philippines is the Greenpeace, that is a non-governmental
organization that aims towards having a greener, healthier environment. It protects the
forests and the seas. If for example, the Philippines lack programs and policies for
environmental protection, the Greenpeace as a transnational advocacy network may
pressure the state to come up with rules and regulations that will protect the environment.
4. Does a sovereign state have to adhere to international law?
- Adherence to the International law is important. Compliance is voluntary ,means of
enforcement ,most states obey international laws , why? Because of Reputation ,Long-term
benefits v. short term losses .Employ means to convince states to comply.For the
international legal order, the sovereignty is a constituent element of state and the
international personality requires that the public power is independent, which grants the
quality of sovereign state. Sovereignty is generally considered, that general feature of the
state, which represents the state supremacy and independence of state power in expressing
and achieving the governors’ will as general will, compulsory for the whole society.
5. Can a sovereign state ignore issues that are outside its boundaries? Why or why not?
- No, especially when it encompasses doing the state damage, the state could not ignore the
issue even if its outside its territory. Globalization implies a process which covers most of
the globe and operates worldwide, at the same time it implies intensification at the levels of
interaction and interdependence between states and societies; these two trends explain the
stretching and deepening of this global process. So if the state is involved in World
Globalization , it therefore should not and could not ignore any issues outside of its
boundaries.
