“Sovereignty, at this bridge in time between millennia, is the product of rules adherence; rules which in the international community are called international law. When any member of that community fails to adhere to rules previously agreed upon, or refuses to respect principles and practices broadly recognized and accepted, it declines in stature and prestige. It will find itself subject to international criticism, as has Cuba on occasion in the past, or will be the object of directed dissatisfaction and retaliation, as is the United States in the wake of the Helms-Burton Law. No State, on reflection, wishes or encourages international criticism of its acts any more than any State is capable of living in isolation. Isolation is self-destructive in this era; it matters not whether it stems from military might or from philosophical ideology. Interdependence is the successor to the Westphalian system. A mutuality of vulnerability, as well as of opportunity, is the essence of the new international structure.”
Professor Ivan Head
Journal of World Trade