ABSTRACT
The modern state system has shaped our world. Its features permeate the nature of international relations. Several significant changes have affected individual states and the nature of the international system, among the most important of which has been the decline of the absolute sovereignty of the nation-state with the growth of various international organizations and transnational actors. The world is long familiar with insurgency organizations, but more various international drug cartels have grown up that are able to menace the sovereignty of states, particularly in Latin American. James Rosenau argues that "The very notion of 'international relations' seems obsolete in the face of an apparent trend in which more and more of the interactions that sustain world politics unfold without the direct involvement of nations or states." The first requirement must be to preserve the basic integrity of the international economic system and the continued health of the US economy.
