Sovereignty

About: Sovereignty is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 25909 publications have been published within this topic receiving 410148 citations.

Contrasting Unitary and Federal Systems

Abstract: The modern age of statism at most divided polities into unitary or federal states. In doing so it obscured the three models of the origin and development of the polity: hierarchic, organic, and covenantal, with the first two leading to unitary states and the third to federal polities. All three models produce institutions, are informed by political cultures, and lead to political behavior characteristic, and at times even singular, to each. This article explores some of the institutional, cultural, and behav- ioral consequences of each of the three models and compares them. Modern political science is grounded in the study of the state, conceived ideally as a unitary, centralized, homogeneous, self-sufficient, and politically sovereign polity encompassing a single nation, a territory, and a unitary government. This modern conception of statehood was either derived from or found its original expression in the Westphalian system, based on the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, that put finis to the Thirty Years' War in western Europe and, through it, the wars of religion that had plagued that continent since the Protestant Reformation some 130 years earlier. Under the Westphalian system, Europe was to be organized on the basis of such states all striving to achieve those ideal goals. Sovereignty was viewed as vested in the state and indivisible. During the next 300 years this state system spread throughout the world as Europeans settled new territories that in turn became independent states or colonized older societies that acquired statehood through decolonization. At the same time, the leading states in the state system, and in principle all of them, moved from absolutist rule to some definition of republican or democratic rule.

Neoliberal Frontiers: An Ethnography of Sovereignty in West Africa

Abstract: In "Neoliberal Frontiers", Brenda Chalfin presents an ethnographic examination of the day-to-day practices of the officials of Ghana's Customs Service, exploring the impact of neoliberal restructuring and integration into the global economy on Ghanaian sovereignty. From the revealing vantage point of the customs office, Chalfin discovers a fascinating inversion of our assumptions about neoliberal transformation: bureaucrats and local functionaries, government offices, checkpoints, and registries are typically held to be the targets of reform, but Chalfin finds that these figures and sites of authority act as the engine for changes in state sovereignty. Ghana has served as a model of reform for the neoliberal establishment, making it an ideal site for Chalfin to explore why the restructuring of a state on the global periphery portends shifts that occur in all corners of the world. At once a foray into international political economy, politics, and political anthropology, "Neoliberal Frontiers" is an innovative interdisciplinary leap forward for ethnographic writing, as well as an eloquent addition to the literature on postcolonial Africa.

The Sovereignty Paradox: The Norms and Politics of International Statebuilding

Abstract: Introduction PART I: CONCEPTS AND THEORIES 1. Sovereignty in International Society 2. International Administrations in International Society PART II: CASE STUDIES 3. Statebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina 4. Statebuilding in Kosovo 5. Statebuilding in East Timor 6. The Sovereignty Paradox Bibliography

Democracy in Europe: Legitimising Politics in a Non-State Polity

Abstract: Foreword List of Abbreviations Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Incompatibilities The Concept of 'Sovereignty' Federalism Democracy Conclusion Chapter 3. Inadequate Solutions The Recent Reform Debate Parliamentarisation Multi-Cameralism Federalism Conclusion Chapter 4. In Search of an Adequate Model: Theoretical Considerations Contract Theory Fiscal Federalism Concepts of Group Representation Network Analysis and Game Theory New Normative Democratic Theory Conclusion Chapter 5. A Proposal for the Democratisation of the EU The Practical Task A System of Veto Rights Regional Subunits: the Assignment of Powers Sectoral Subunits: How to Distinguish Them Procedures Some Illustrations A Summary of the Proposal Chapter 6. Major Objections Democratic Ambivalence (or: How Democratic is Democracy?) Democracy vs. Efficiency Biases and Asymmetries The acquis communautaire Chapter 7. Models and Realities Bibliography Index