Yielding Sovereignty to AIIs
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After at least forty years of discussions and more than a decade of intensive planning, the
Euro finally arrived. National central banks became branch offices of the new European Central
Bank (ECB). Reversing two centuries of international monetary history, the member states of
the European Union (EU) abandoned one of the foremost symbols of the sovereign nation-state:
their own national currencies. All EU members are also among the 97 states that have ratified the
treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a forum for prosecuting and
punishing individuals charged with war crimes. As in the case of the Euro, states participating in
the ICC have agreed to forego one of their time-honored privileges: exclusive jurisdiction over
domestic judicial issues.
Few political scientists today would claim that the sovereign nation-state is on the verge of
extinction. Neither would we. However, we do wish to highlight a trend that is visible across a
wide variety of issue areas: states deliberately delegating decision-making power to
Authoritative International Institutions (AIIs).
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AIIs like the ECB and the ICC have the
ability to make legally binding decisions on issues formerly under national control. While this
class of cases has not been extensively studied, it covers a wide range of international issues.
For example, one of the most significant differences between the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and its predecessor, the GATT, is that WTO members delegated strong dispute-
resolution powers. Other regional trade institutions like the North American Free Trade
Agreement and Mercosur include similar delegation (although narrower in scope). Regional
currency institutions in West Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, and the East Caribbean
have been quietly issuing joint currencies for decades.
In international law, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has accrued substantial authority,
and the high-profile Pinochet case highlights a growing trend toward enforcement of the
Convention