O dwóch wyzwaniach globalizacji

Abstract

This article addresses two challenges of the globalization process: European identity and state sovereignty. National identity is often omitted and replaced by European identity. However, two important elements have been forgotten in identifying the European identity: 1. essential foundation of Christianity and its values; 2. importance of national identity in the lives of people and societies, because they are always entangled in a particular national community and culture. The issue of sovereignty, that is autonomy and self-determination of individual states, is increasingly an important challenge for Europe. Sovereignty is increasingly limited in the name of extending its scope and exercising it jointly with others within the framework of supranational institutions. The traditional vision of national sovereignty is considered obsolete and replaced by the concept of shared, pluralistic, multidimensional and functional sovereignty. Three points are important: 1. there are some leaders in EU who dictate the tone of the other states and try to impose certain solutions; 2. some state leaders declare openly that they will protect the interests of their own country and such declarations are moreover confirmed in specific decisions and actions; 3. sovereign nation state is also a natural space for political debate and a first school of democracy.