At its core, globalization entails the increasing volume, velocity, and importance of flows – within and across borders – of people, ideas, greenhouse gases, goods, dollars, drugs, viruses, emails, weapons, and a good deal else, challenging one of sovereignty’s fundamental principles: the ability to control what crosses borders in either direction. Sovereign states increasingly measure their vulnerability not to one another, but to forces beyond their control.
所有这些都表明，要想适应全球化的发展，国家的主权观念就必须重新界定。从本质上看，全球化会使人员、思想、温室气体、货物、美元、毒品、病毒、电子邮件、武器和其它很多物品在境内外流动的数量越来越大，速度越来越快，重要性也越来越强。这对主权最根本的一项原则构成了挑战：那就是控制所有领域中的越境能力。随着时间的流逝，主权国家不再计较相互之间孰优孰劣，而是把人们无法控制的力量看作它们共同的敌人。