Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies Volume 16 Issue 1 Article 3 Winter 2009 "The Momentous Gravity of the State of Things Now Obtaining": Annoying Westphalian Objections to the Idea of Global Governance Timothy W. Waters Indiana University Maurer School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls Part of the International Law Commons, and the Law and Politics Commons Recommended Citation Waters, Timothy W. (2009) ""The Momentous Gravity of the State of Things Now Obtaining": Annoying Westphalian Objections to the Idea of Global Governance," Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies: Vol. 16 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls/vol16/iss1/3 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. "The Momentous Gravity of the State of Things Now Obtaining": Annoying Westphalian Objections to the Idea of Global Governance TIMOTHY WILLIAM WATERS* ABSTRACT Are there situationsin which otherwise attractively complex, sub- and cross-national networks are unlikely to replace the hoary old Westphalian state? Perhaps, but whatever the answer,global governance as a disciplineseems to have a hardtime fully consideringthe question. One ofthe problems with operationalizingglobal governance may be the simul- taneous profligacy and poverty of the idea itself: its definitionaloveremphasis on change andconsequent inattention to the state's capacity to reconstitute its corefunctions andthus to achieve a predictable continuity.