Sovereignty and the Miss Universe Contest

And the winner is … Miss Puerto Rico. Why is it that Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands get separate entries in this beauty contest? And why do they, along with Hong Kong and Bermuda, get separate delegations to Olympic competitions?

It could be some accident of organizational history, like the United Nations membership of Ukraine and Byelorussia during the Soviet era. Or perhaps it could be consistent with some notion of demi-sovereignty, under which territorially-distinct, non-independent entities are afforded some limited degree of international personality. Far more important than the beauty and sporting competitions on this score is Hong Kong’s separate WTO membership. Perhaps this is another small way in which sovereignty (and in particular the notion of sovereign equality) is being chipped away at.

Update: Duncan has this piece up on SSRN documenting substate participation in treaty regimes. It’s not just Hong Kong but also Macau that has WTO membership. Other substate entities enjoying some institutional international recognition include Quebec and the Cook Islands. And perhaps next year’s crown will go to Miss Tatarstan.