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Human Rights in the Discourse on Sovereignty: The United States, Russia and NATO's Intervention in Kosovo

The concept of sovereignty has been a contestable
idea throughout history, and its meaning has
oftentimes transformed to reflect prevailing
systemic conditions and political priorities of
major actors in each historical period. In this
study, I argue that the social construction of
state sovereignty is at the beginning stages of
another major redefinition. In an era of
globalization and regional integration, discourse
on sovereignty has become increasingly prolific
as the rhetoric of sovereignty moves away from
Westphalian principles that were based exclusively
on the agency of independent states. Furthermore,
multinational campaigns to promote international
human rights engender a discourse that suggests
the idea of sovereignty is changing. Does this
emerging discourse confirm the growing legitimacy
of humanitarian intervention, or is it merely a
discursive trend in international relations that
does not indicate significant change in state
perception and behavior? The purpose of this work
is to address this question. / Master of Arts

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/42444
Date06 May 2001
CreatorsHeinze, Eric Alan
ContributorsPolitical Science, Borer, Douglas A., Taylor, Charles Lewis, White, Stephen K.
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Formatapplication/pdf
RightsI hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Virginia Tech or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.
Relationthesis.pdf

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