Foreign Sovereign Immunity in a Hyper Globalized World

Abstract:     
The recent economic downturn substantiated the interconnectedness of all nations; not a single developed nation escaped unscathed from the global meltdown. Any vestiges of isolationism that existed in the 20th century have since evaporated. We are in the throws of a paradigm shift towards "pervasive interdependancy"; an era where all nations, rich or poor, land-locked or island, democratic or dictatorial, sink or swim together. This increasing interconnectedness has shaken the international legal landscape to its very core. Longstanding laws and traditions are being forced to function in a world radically different from the days those laws were conceived. Even relatively recent laws are being forced to grapple with the strange new paradigm of "instant global commerce" and rapidly shifting diplomatic alliances (e.g. China our enemy to China our friend).

This paper asserts how one important law, the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA) has failed to adapt to the newly established hyper-globalized paradigm, and analyzes the implications this has on the ability of the Executive branch to pursue foreign policy objectives.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 11

Keywords: Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Foreign Sovereign Immunity, Tim Wafa, Globalization, International Law

working papers series