The International Environment - Short and Long Term

It is hard to say if the international environment will fundamentally change. As Jackson mentions in his lecture, what would that even look like? Both the PRO and CON group focused on international cooperation and the potential for states to give up their sovereignty to work together, but what if the international environment changed in a different way? It is hard to anticipate something as unpredictable as the future of our international stage.

I do find it hard to believe that states will give up their sovereignty, particularly if they have a means to defend themselves. However, I also find it nearly impossible to say that the international environment will never change. There are too many variables we cannot control to say there will be no fundamental change to the international environment. Anything from nuclear war, alliances, states failing, an environmental disaster or global warming, famine or droughts may lead states to act differently, and many other things may fundamentally change the international environment as we know it.

I think at least in the near future states are too set in their ways of sovereignty to give it up. Even members of the EU or NATO are still known as their nation first and secondly as a member of the EU or NATO. Small changes such as a country dividing into two or two countries becoming one will occur, however, this does not fundamentally change the international environment. As for what is possible in the further future only time will tell. Fundamental changes in the international environment are likely possible, however, what these changes will be and when they will occur are unknown.