Globalization and National Sovereignty: Controlling the International Food Supply in the Age of Biotechnology

With globalization and widespread technological advances, new international issues have emerged that hold critical importance for transnational economic integration, state sovereignty, and the future of global governance. These issues notably affect the power, authority, sovereignty, and legitimacy of states as defined in the Westphalian system. Overall, the controversy over genetically engineered foods follows the trend that “while states were once the masters over markets, now it is the markets which, on many critical issues, are the masters over the governments.” The resolutions of trade disputes and international conflicts over genetically modified (GM) foods have taken away from state sovereignty—the ability for each state to make laws to regulate and control its domestic food supply— by favoring free trade and universal standards. Nation-states are no longer the only players in this arena, because international agencies, transnational biotechnology corporations, and nongovernmental organizations have significant powers and roles in the decision-making process of regulating GM foods on the nation-state and international levels. The ongoing controversy over the production, international trade, and management of GM foods is demonstrated in the 2006 decision by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to preclude the European Union (EU) from maintaining a de facto ban of GM food imports. Part II of this article will provide a background on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), their potential benefits, and their uncertain risks. Part III analyzes the U.S.-EU trade dispute, and how the WTO’s decision potentially increases the future likelihood of global governance and decreases the significance of state borders, while still allowing states to have some control of their domestic regulatory processes. Part IV presents the contrary perspective, that