ABSTRACT
The collapse of serfdom in the 1600s for peasants under the feudal system changed the ruling contract between God and King to the People and the King and resulted most notably from the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). The ensuing treaty of Westphalia ushered in today's world of the nation-state system (Karns and Mingst, 2010). Sovereignty is the core concept of this state system, and the need for supreme arbiters among states has evolved gradually. With increasing international trade, immigration, democratization, and technological innovation, which have undermined the capacity of states to govern effectively, the deficiency of the nation-state system has become increasingly apparent. The end of the Cold War since the late 1980s brought about the term “global civil society,” which has since been used widely in academic literature on international politics (Davies, 2008). This movement of a global civil society has been in sync with the growing evidence of climate change, pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, the rippling effects from higher food and oil prices, the continuing threat of global terrorism, and the contagious meltdown of financial markets worldwide in 2008. All illustrate the effects of globalization in intensifying the connections between peoples and states around the world, and none of these problems can be managed by sovereign states acting alone.
