States and their power today

Once upon a time a state could invade another state and suffer no negative consequences. Now that the eye of the world is over every single action a state takes, a state is much more restricted in what it can do, at least at first glance. Formal international laws are set mainly by the U.N. and informal ones by the first world countries. States are basically set to certain standards depending on how economically developed they are. Some of the rules that apply to all states are: not invading another state unless legitimately threatened, respecting other states’ rights, and basically staying out of other states’ affairs unless asked to intervene.

Countries must observe other nations’ air space, fish in their own waters or on international waters, and not hunt animals considered endangered. There are largely two ways a state can stay on the sidelines of some of these laws (in other words cheat). For instance the U.S., as the largest economic powerhouse of the world, can largely ignore environmental treaties while promoting environmentalism in the world at the same time. The U.S. didn’t sign the Kyoto Treaty in 1997 and 2001 because the treaty would hurt the U.S. the most economically. The biggest polluter at the time deciding to not sign on to an effort that looks to prevent an international issue is not something a powerless country could do.

Tradition or precedent also gives countries leeway in how they conduct their business. Suppose someone in a democratically governed country somehow overthrows the government and establishes a dictatorship. I doubt the international community would allow that dictator to keep control. The Korean War was over 50 years ago. North Korea seems to be doing fine. Japan continues to hunt whales in the name of research despite commercial whale hunting being illegal. Their reason for whaling is that it is part of their culture. The point here is that these countries can continue to do these things because it’s just part of their history.

States today still have plenty of loop holes to exploit to serve their self-interests.