State Sovereignty as Social Construct

Authors:
  • DSDavid Strang
    David Strang
  • NINaeem Inayatullah
    Naeem Inayatullah
  • AMAlexander B. Murphy
    Alexander B. Murphy
  • RDRoxanne Lynn Doty
    Roxanne Lynn Doty
  • MBMichael Barnett
    Michael Barnett
  • DDDaniel Deudney
    Daniel Deudney
  • AWAlexander Wendt
    Alexander Wendt
  • DFDaniel Friedheim
    Daniel Friedheim
Editors:
  • TBThomas J. Biersteker
    Thomas J. Biersteker
  • CWCynthia Weber
    Cynthia Weber
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Abstract
State sovereignty is an inherently social construct. The modern state system is not based on some timeless principle of sovereignty, but on the production of a normative conception which links authority, territory, population (society, nation), and recognition in a unique way, and in a particular place (the state). Attempting to realize this ideal entails a great deal of hard work on the part of statespersons, diplomats, and intellectuals. The ideal of state sovereignty is a product of the actions of powerful agents and the resistances to those actions by those located at the margins of power. The unique contribution of this book is to describe, theorize, and illustrate the practices which have socially constructed, reproduced, reconstructed, and deconstructed various sovereign ideals and resistances to them. The contributors analyse how all the components of state sovereignty - not only recognition, but also territory, population, and authority - are socially constructed and combined in specific historical contexts.