National sovereignty

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National sovereignty has long been a contentious issue among the members of the NationStates United Nations, with members disagreeing over the question of whether national sovereignty exists as well as disagreeing over to what extent it should exist, if any, and what valid arguments there might be for maintaining or changing the state of national sovereignty in the NationStates United Nations. These discussions are complicated by the unique relationship of the United Nations to the NationStates game engine, which give the arguments unique facets which are not found in real-life discussions of national sovereignty.

Does National Sovereignty Exist in the NSUN?

The answer to that question depends largely on our own preconceptions about what constitutes sovereignty and is complicated by the interaction between game mechanics and roleplay. Many people incorporate a variety of these perspectives and/or concepts into their views. Keep in mind that this has been simplified for brevity.

Statistic Control

For some people, national sovereignty is having complete control over their national statistics. For them, national sovereighty is a quality that you have or do not have, and there are no degrees to which national sovereignty exists and/or does not exist. In their case, there is no national sovereignty if you are a member of the United Nations and are affected by the stastistical changes wrought by the NSUN.

Policymaking Through Daily Issues

For others, national sovereignty is the ability of their nation to make its own policy through daily issues. For them, national sovereignty is a quality diminished only by an inability to make policy in a particular area. Even if they are members of the United Nations, they are still allowed to make their own policy through daily issues and thus they still have national sovereignty.

Roleplay Control

For some players, most of whom feel obligated to abide by the conventions of good roleplay by not godmoding, their ability to control completely their nation's policies through roleplay is what constitutes national sovereignty. Because the text of a NSUN resolution functions in the realm of roleplay and it is considered by the community to be godmoding to ignore that text, and for these players national sovereignty is a quality that either you have or do not have, and there are no degrees to which national sovereignty exists and/or does not exist. In their case, there is no national sovereignty if you are a member of the United Nations and are affected by the roleplay changes wrought by the NSUN.

Policymaking Through Roleplay

For many players who are NSUN members, most of whom feel obligated to abide by the conventions of good roleplay by not godmoding, their ability to set their nation's policies through roleplay is what constitutes national sovereignty. Because the text of a NSUN resolution functions in the realm of roleplay and it is considered by the community to be godmoding to ignore that text, these players have their national sovereignty diminished to some degree when the NSUN passes legislation. For these players, national sovereignty only extends so far as the NSUN has not legislated on an issue.


Common Mistakes

Here are some of the common mistakes that are made in national sovereignty discussions with regard to the NSUN.

The NSUN is the same as the the real-life UN!

Occasionally the UN forum gets treated to a diatribe on how the RL (real-life) United Nations works. Usually such diatribes are immediately followed by arguments that the NationStates United Nations should work the same way as the RL United Nations. Sometimes the persons will even cite the RL United Nations Charter, or use other RL United Nations resources to back up their claims. Unfortunately for such persons, NationStates is a role-playing game, and does not recognize RL resources except as aids to debate (whether over appropriate role-play conventions or ethical and legal concerns). It could be argued that the NSUN should be more like the RL UN for a variety of reasons, but assuming that they are exactly the same is a mistake.

Power of the NationStates United Nations

Far too often persons will claim that the NationStates United Nations does not have the power to enact the legislation that has been passed. As it happens, the NationStates United Nations actually does have that power. If you are a member of the United Nations during the period in which the resolution is coded, then the national statistics for your nation are changed according to the nature of the resolution. This is built into the very structure of the game, and there is nothing that can be done about it. However, if you are not a member of the United Nations during the time period in which the resolution is coded, your national statistics are not changed. Even so, you are expected to act as if your nation is in compliance with the legislation for the purposes of role-play. One can role-play defiance of the legislation, but be prepared to do a proper job of it or be accused of wank or godmoding, and possibly derided and ignored altogether. One fairly common and widely accepted method of roleplaying defiance of resolutions is to take advantage of the often ambiguous and/or undefined nature of the resolutions and define certain key terms such that the effects of the resolution are nullified or made negligible.


Arguments Related to National Sovereignty

National sovereignty is a topic that is oft-debated and hotly contested. Many arguments get thrown around and it can often seem like there are as many arguments on the issue as there are people debating it. However, there are several common threads in these arguments.

Debates over the appropriate scope of national sovereignty take many forms. Some are related to the IC (In-Character) aspects of NationStates and others are related to the OOC (Out-Of-Character) aspects of the game. Often terms such as domestic and international are used to indicate different types of policy, legislation, or law. Most arguments support a particular degree to which national sovereignty should be upheld or not upheld, but some persons will hold to multiple arguments (or versions thereof) so it can become difficult to pinpoint their position on the issue. There are other arguments than those which are listed below, but I have only included the more commonly used arguments on both sides of the issues.

Arguments Related to Game Mechanics

Below are two common arguments related to issues of game mechanics. One of the arguments is for limited national sovereignty, and the other suggests that national sovereignty does not exist in the NSUN.

Daily Issues Argument

One of the more common OOC arguments for national sovereignty (limited or extensive) is that having the NationStates United Nations legislate in certain areas is redundant because there are already daily issues that allow the nations to make legislation on that issue. Many proponents of this argument have also said that such redundancy takes the fun out of the game, which is deciding how to run your own nation.

Fatalistic Argument

A common OOC argument for the sovereignty of the NationStates United Nations is that due to the nature of game mechanics, it already by its very nature violates national sovereignty. Essentially, persons using this argument often suggest that because of the fact that the passage of a resolution by the NationStates United Nations always impacts your nation (as indicated by the FAQ), you give up all national sovereignty upon joining the United Nations, and therefore it is useless to try to assert the sovereignty of your nation if you are a member.


Arguments Related to Legal Scope

Quite possibly the most common issue to come up in debates on national sovereignty is the issue of legal scope, particularly the question of where the NSUN's proper jurisdiction lies.

Legalistic Argument

The Legalistic Argument is a fairly common method of dealing with national sovereignty issues. Proponents of this argument hold that there are two types of legislation; domestic and international. The general thrust of this argument is that because "it's the United Nations, not United Sentient Beings" (to quote myself), the United Nations is a body that is international in its scope, and international only. Persons taking this position usually believe that unless the NationStates United Nations is legislating directly on an international issue, it is violating the scope of its legal authority.

International Justification Argument

This is one of the most popular arguments that is used to justify the NationStates United Nations legislating on what others might consider a domestic issue. Proponents of this argument will generally state that the NationStates United Nations is well within its rights to legislate on domestic issues if there is an international justification for doing so. For example, outlawing abortion in one nation would probably lead to women immigrating or emigrating (depending on your perspective) to other nations in order to have abortions. Thus many proponents of this argument would say that because the domestic law is extremely likely to have international consequences, it is within the scope of the NationStates United Nations to set international law that will address this issue.


Arguments Related to the Goal of Unity

Of late there has been an increasing tendency on the part of those who address national sovereignty to debate the issue in light of the goal of acheiving unity through the NSUN. (That goal is implied by the name of the United Nations.)

Unity Through Sovereignty

Some proponents of national sovereignty have suggested that because of the difficulty involved in and the negative consequences of the NSUN mandating policies for its member nations (due to the overwhelming diversity of biological, technological, cultural, political, and economic needs of those nations), the NSUN should respect national sovereignty in an effort to respect the diversity of the membership. Some have also suggested that respecting national sovereignty would decrease the rancor that many conservatives and capitalists feel towards the NSUN, which would lead to a more unified, rather than divided, body of nations.

Unity Through Universal Policy

Others suggest that the way to improve the unity of the membership is through mandated universal policy that would truly provide a unified framework for the member nations and make them more homogenuous and friendly towards each other. Some have suggested that all who oppose the NSUN's policies should leave the NSUN and that such action would benefit the NSUN by removing the division caused by competing beliefs about policy, thereby creating a truly unified NSUN.


Arguments Related to Self-Determination

Below are the primary arguments on national sovereignty that are related to the issue of self-determination, which is essentially the ability to determine one's own course of action.

Self-Determination Within the NSUN

Some people suggest that in recognition of a nation's right to self-determination, the NSUN should respect national sovereignty and allow member nations to make their own policies. Such persons often have differing perspectives with regard to the degree which they believe national sovereignty should be upheld due to the right to self-determination.

Self-Determination Without the NSUN

Others suggest that the nations already have the complete right to self-determination, and that they exercise this right by joining or leaving the NSUN. Such persons usually hold to the Fatalistic argument as well, though not always.


Arguments Related to Passed Legislation

Below are the arguments on the issue of passed legislation. These arguments seek to establish a perspective's correctness by appealing to historical precedents in the law set out previously by the NSUN.

Passed Legislation as Precedent for Sovereignty

Some people who wish to promote national sovereignty in the NSUN suggest that because of previous legislation that either respects of promotes national sovereignty (examples are "Rights and Duties" "National Systems of Tax" "Right to Refuse Extradition" and "Right to Self-Protection"), the NSUN has clearly endorsed national sovereignty as a valid legal and political concept within the NSUN and national sovereignty should be respected as such. Some take this line of thought even further and suggest that national sovereignty should not only be recognized as a valid legal concept, but also implemented consistently by the NSUN in its legislation.

Passed Legislation as Precedent for Universal Policy

Others take the opposing position that the historical precedent for mandating universal policy is stronger than the precedent for sovereignty, citing the much larger number of resolutions that do not respect or promote national sovereignty (examples are "Abortion Rights" "Definition of Marriage" "Right to Learn About Evolution" "The Sex Industry Worker Act" and "Ban Trafficking in Persons"), but instead operate using universal policy. Such persons generally conclude that universal policy is the more widely used model for legislation, and should be recognized as such. Some take this line of thinking even further and suggest that universal policy should be implemented consistently in NSUN legislation.


Further material to be added later.

External Links

National Sovereignty and the NSUN

Validity of the National Sovereignty Argument

Organizations

National Sovereignty Organization