W. Michael Blumenthal Quotes

Everyone should respect the sovereignty of the EU countries.

It is simply not feasible for sovereignty to be exercised unilaterally by individual nation-states, however powerful. It is a principle which will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global environmental cooperation.

Sovereignty must be redefined if states are to cope with globalisation.

In a pre-Internet world, sovereignty over our physical freedoms, or lack thereof, was controlled almost entirely by nation-states.

Today in the era of globalization there is no such issue as borders between states of the same nation.

The most tragic paradox of our time is to be found in the failure of nation-states to recognize the imperatives of internationalism.

The world consists of, and is divided by, sovereign states which recognize no superior authority.

I think we should be less dependent on the outdated concept we call countries.

The statesmen still say that we should not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations and yet it is not possible any longer not to interfere, even when we do not mean to do so.

In the modern world, those who are weak will get unambiguous advice from foreign visitors which way to go and what policy course to pursue.

Ultimate authority in a global system remains with sovereigns. Governments will not have it any other way: politicians face instant rejection from their electorate if they allow transnational authorities to dictate terms.

Sovereignty is as necessary as ever.

I've always made it clear that I do not believe that global government is either necessary or feasible.

There will always be nations. The United States will last a long, long time, I believe. France and Germany and Japan, China, other nations, they're going to exist. But they're losing their significance and ability to deal with certain matters.

When we say, even in a global village, that all politics is local, we mean that national sovereignties are the only reliable source of political authority.

In a shrinking world, the absence of order among nations is becoming less and less tolerable.

The claims of no people, according to established policy and usage, are respected by any nation, until they are presented in a national capacity.

No country can be expected to make peace with a nation that denies its right to exist.

No country can dictate its laws to the world.

The nation-state has become too small for the big problems of life and too big for the small problems.

The centuries old Westphalian state system has never resolved the tension between the principle of the sovereign equality of states and the idea that great powers enjoy certain privileges and bear special responsibilities.

We still give the nation state the monopoly on the legal use of violence in our own defense.

The rules that organizations such as the United Nations rely on were not written by the majority of the world’s people, who have long seen powerful states declare exceptions for themselves. Newly powerful states will challenge this system --

We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth.

The Nation is ceasing to be the leading form off the world’s structure; organizations transcending national boundaries are becoming more and more numerous and effective.