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Sovereignty and the State

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Title: Sovereignty and the State


1
Sovereignty and the State
  • PS 314
  • January 24th

2
The Big Questions
  • What is the nature of sovereignty?
  • From where did sovereignty come?
  • How can we account for the rise of the modern
    state?
  • Is the reach of the state being curtailed by
    globalization?
  • Is sovereignty being undermined by globalization?

3
Sovereignty
  • Sovereignty is the ultimate monopoly of
    coercion by a set of political institutions
    within a defined territory
  • Sovereignty is an artifact of the modern era.
    Why?
  • Theorists such as Jean Bodin (1530-96) and Thomas
    Hobbes (1588-1679) began thinking about
    sovereignty in the late16th and early 17th
    centuries, in the wake of cataclysmic upheavals
    in Europe
  • Sovereignty emerged as the successor to the dual
    concepts of ultramontanism and divine right

4
The Theory of Sovereignty
  • Bodin, in his The Six Books of the Commonwealth,
    is the first theorist to outline the idea that
    power lies in the state, not in the person.
  • Asked not the question, Who are the rulers and
    what are their powers?, but rather, What is the
    state and how is it constructed?
  • However, Bodin still does not depart from the old
    concept of divine right (which has important
    consequences).
  • Hobbes, on the other hand, begins an
    investigation of how states come to be.
  • In doing so, he provides the springboard to the
    modern era, for he overturns the principle of
    divine right.

5
The Emergence of the State
  • It is often argued that the appearance of state
    sovereignty was cemented by the Treaty of
    Westphalia (1648), which established the
    so-called Westphalian system.
  • Once of Krasners key points is that Westphalia
    is not exactly what it has been seen as by
    historians why not?
  • However, by the time that we move into the 19th
    century and the Congress of Vienna, the
    possibility of state sovereignty provides the
    framework for the aspiration to
    self-determination

6
Why did the modern state emerge?
  • Within two centuries, Europe passed from
    medievalism ? city states and leagues ? modern
    states. For example, the first modern state is
    generally considered to be 17th century Prussia.
    Why did the state emerge?
  • Two traditional explanations have been proffered
    by historians for the rise of the modern state
  • success in warfare (neo-realism)
  • The emergence of national markets (Marxism)
  • Spruyt argues that there was a third, and perhaps
    most important factor at work sheer luck
    (unintended consequences).
  • The outcome was a combination of Darwinism,
    mutual empowerment, and (later) adaptation and
    mimicry.

7
Contemporary Sovereignty
  • Both Krasner and Spruyt remind us that
    sovereignty is a powerful tool in the modern
    world, despite globalization
  • Both of them reject the notion that sovereignty
    is undermined by universalism, whether it be
    religious ideals (islamic fundamentalism) or
    secular ideals (human rights)
  • Spruyt argues that the state is more powerful
    than ever before
  • However, Krasner does concede that the state now
    has real competitors for power (i.e. NGOs)
  • Neither sees the European Union as a
    fundamentally new form of organizing sovereignty
    for all

8
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