Sovereignty in the South Intrusive Regionalism in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia

As international organisations gain greater power to monitor and manage the domestic affairs of their member states, the relationship between state sovereignty and international intervention becomes increasingly fraught. This book examines international rule-making in the Global South, tracing how the status of state sovereignty has evolved since decolonization. Coe argues that regional organizations flout the former norm of non-interference, becoming involved in the domestic affairs of their member states in Africa, Latin America, and (to a much lesser extent) Southeast Asia. In the name of democracy, human rights, and security, regional organizations increasingly assume jurisdiction over once off-limits domestic matters: they monitor elections and human rights and they respond to intrastate crises with mediation, fact-finding and sanctions. Coe explores the effects of democratization and economic crisis on regional institutions to explain the uneven development of 'intrusive regionalism' across the postcolonial world.

Introduction; 1. The uneven rise of intrusive regionalism; 2. Macronationalism and the discursive foundations of regionalism in the Global South; 3. Contested sovereignty norms and the erosion of non-interference; 4. The role of regime type; 5. The role of economic performance; Conclusion.

Brooke N. Coe is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma State University. She previously taught at Stetson University and Wake Forest University, and has held predoctoral and postdoctoral research fellowships at Georgetown University and the Freie Universität Berlin. Coe received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2015.