Challenges To Sovereignty and Supranational Organizations [AP Human Geography Unit 4 Topic 9]

hello there geographers and welcome back to the Mr sin Channel today we are going to talk about different factors that challenge a state's sovereignty as always if you find Value in this video consider subscribing now one of the first challenges the state may face is Devolution a concept we've talked about in many of our previous videos Remember Devolution is about the transfer of power from a national government to a regional government this change in power can sometimes result in a state breaking up into multiple smaller States or the state may remain whole and just see

some of its power shift from the national government to its Regional government if you need more examples of devolution and how it impacts different states and people around the world go back and watch my last topic review video so we can see that states that experience Devolution often may see their sovereignty challenge National governments lose power and have to cooperate more with regional governments which may limit the national government's ability to make decisions sometimes shifting power from the national government to a regional government is simply not enough in a statement they disintegrate this means that

the state will break up into smaller parts essentially the state ceases to exist in its current form and new states are created for example we could look at Sudan and South Sudan originally these two countries were one however in 2011 a referendum was held and South Sudan became officially its own country we could also look at the former Soviet Union which saw challenges to its sovereignty throughout its existence once the Soviet Union fell the state disintegrated and split into 15 independent sovereign states now when looking at the world today we can see the impact that

advancements in technology and communication have had on states and their sovereignty as technology continues to advance it becomes easier for people to share information connect with others and influence different people and places all of which creates opportunities for States but can also challenge the state people can now communicate with other individuals businesses and States all over the world which has led to the creation of new products jobs Innovations the sharing of ideas between different people the formation of Global Supply chains and the rise of democratization but has also created new challenges for governments who seek

to protect and maintain control over their state for example many countries today have an economy that is dependent on oil and natural gas which are Commodities that are traded in the global market this allows countries to get the best price for these resources which helps keeps prices low but at the same time makes countries dependent on other states who have oil and natural gas which may influence a country's political decisions and limit their sovereignty they may not be able to implement certain policies for their state or Implement certain Global policies out of fear of retaliation

from other states that they depend on for energy these calculated decisions happen on a daily basis we can see an example of this play out with Europe and Russia when Russia invaded Ukraine many countries wanted to impose harsh sanctions on Russia however many European countries depend on Russia for natural gas Russia sells gas to Europe via pipeline Europe relies on it to heat its buildings power its Industries and generate electricity this interdependent relationship between Russia and Europe has limited the west from imposing harsher sanctions on Russia than it might have otherwise now this situation is

ever evolving and there are many harsh sanctions in place against Russia as of the making of this video hopefully you can see how this connected World impacts the decisions of different states no longer can a state make a decision in isolation now they must consider other Global factors which may limit their sovereignty as they may be limited in what decisions they can make shifting gears back to technology and its impact on a state sovereignty we can see how social media and the internet can lead to Devolution disintegration of a state or simply create challenges for

a state people organizations and other states can now share information around the world instantly which allows people and states the ability to disseminate false information which could be used to influence a state's domestic affairs and way of life thus challenging a state's government but we can also see technology be used by citizens in a way to highlight government corruption and abuse and better understand how people around the world live this access to more information can reduce the control and autocratic government has over its citizens as people realize what their government is doing and what life

could be like for example during the Arab Springs the world saw revolutions across Northern Africa and the Middle East people used Facebook and Twitter to share information on the government and its corruption and abuse all of which led to the downfall of different dictators such as Mubarak in Egypt or Gaddafi in Libya the internet allowed for people to not only see what the government was doing but also allowed for people to organize plan and mobilize to protest and challenge the government here technology empowered citizens to have a more active role in their state and led

to democratize across the state now some autocratic governments seek to protect their Authority by limiting access to information in their country these countries censor social media platforms restrict internet access and try to control what information their citizens can see however we can see that that is becoming harder and harder to do such as the case in Iran where as of December 26 2022 there are reports now of over a hundred starlink accounts being active in the country earlier this year Elon Musk tweeted that he would start activating starlink to help support the Iranian people with

the goal being to provide them greater access to digital Communications to counter the Iranian government censorship all of which impacts the state's sovereignty as it allows for more information to enter the state which may undermine the government and help support the protesters in the state how it isn't just advancements in technology and communication that can challenge a state's sovereignty thanks to globalization our world has become more connected than ever before resulting in businesses to operate around the world states to create treaties with other states and supernational organizations to form a supernational organization is an alliance

which consists of multiple countries traditionally three or more that work together to achieve common goals or address specific issues or challenges that impact State oftentimes these goals and challenges revolve around political aspirations economic factors the environment or the military when States join a supernational organization they often have to follow certain rules and meet certain criteria which means they give up some of their sovereignty political supernational organizations often seek to maintain political stability in a region or around the world examples of supernational organizations that revolve around political goals or military goals could be the United Nations

which seeks to maintain peace and stability around the world or we could look at the African Union which is made up of 55 different African States seeking to promote stability across Africa and eradicate all forms of colonialism in Africa an example of a supernatural organization that would have a focus on Military would be the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which was created to counter the diffusion of Communism and the Soviet Union today it exists both as a political and Military Alliance seeking to provide security to its members states that are part of NATO gain security and

protection but they also agree to support other countries in the organization if they are attacked as stated in Article 5 of NATO which states a collective defense means that an attack against one Ally is considered an attack against all allies this takes some of the state's ability to make decisions out of its hands and puts it into the hands of the organization so states that are part of NATO may have to send troops into a conflict that they themselves are not directly involved in for example after 9 11 Article 5 was invoked which was the

first time Article 5 was ever invoked leading to counter-terrorism operations to occur with the help of all NATO members so now that we talked about political and military alliances is let's shift gears and look at economic organization here we have groups that are created with the goal of promoting economic prosperity for example the European Union is both political and economic it's an organization that helps countries in the European Union compete with countries around the world another economic supernational organization would be the association of Southeast Asian Nations which strives to accelerate economic growth social progress and

cultural development in the region countries that join an economic Supernatural organization may have to implement common regulations and laws on the production of goods and services thus removing those decisions from the individual state for example States may lose some control over their trading practices as they might have to reduce or remove different tariffs which will allow for trade to become cheaper between countries and allow for more specialization to occur the reason why we see States willing to join these economic supernational organizations is because even though they lose some of their economic sovereignty and policy decisions

it allows them to become more competitive in the global market which ultimately makes their country better off now the last Supernatural organizations that we have are environmental organizations which seek to achieve specific goals that protect the world's natural resource such as the Arctic Council which is the leading intergovernmental form promoting cooperation coordination and interaction among the Arctic States Arctic indigenous people and other Arctic inhabitants uncommon Arctic issues in particular on the issues of sustainable development and Environmental Protection in the Arctic when countries join Supernatural organizations they give up control over different aspects of their sovereignty

they have to follow certain rules and regulations set by the organizations and often have to pay dues however countries join these organizations because they believe it will make them stronger in the long run political and military alliances increase political stability and offer protection from other states economic organizations allow for states to compete in the global mark market and help grow a state's economy an environmental organizations help make the world and States a cleaner and better place to live all right geographers you made it through another topic review video now you know the drill the time

has come to practice and answered the questions on the screen once you're done check your answers in the comment section down below to see if you got them right also don't forget if you found value in this video consider subscribing and check out my ultimate review packet for more help with your AP Human Geography studies it's a great resource that'll help you get an A in your class and a five on that National exam as always I'm Mr sin thank you so much for watching and I will see you next time online