Nature of Sovereignty and the Sovereignty of Nature: Problematizing the Boundaries between Self, Society, State, and System
Author(s)
Lipschutz, Ronnie D.
Abstract
In 1995 the World Bank declared that the “wars of the next century will be over water.” The scarcity and uneven distribution of natural resources will most likely lead to conflicts between sovereign states, as states that lack certain resources will go to war to obtain those resources from states that do have them. In this article, the author examines the problems posed by resource scarcity and evaluates the proposed solutions. The author concludes that most of the solutions proposed, from scarcity-based reliance on markets to sustainability and propositions for limits to growth, ultimately attempt to impose “sovereign natural boundaries” where, perhaps, “none should exist.”
