Reconsidering the 'Sovereign State': The Shifting Illusion of Sovereignty

Challenging assumptions about the term 'sovereignty'

As I read this book, I was struck by how the simple understanding of 'sovereignty = an absolute right for a state to protect itself' is merely a modern construct.
While school education and general political discourse often explain the 'Westphalian system' as the starting point of the sovereign state, this book relativizes that 'common sense' and carefully depicts the process by which the concept of 'sovereignty' has changed within diverse forms such as composite monarchies, empires, and nation-states.

The multi-layered reality of 'composite states' and 'empires'

The cases of Scandinavia and the British Isles discussed in Part I show that they had structures gathered together like 'conglomerates' rather than being single sovereign states. Cases like the Burgundian state were also forms of political entities difficult to understand within the framework of today's nation-states.
Furthermore, Part II reveals that massive empires such as the British Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Qing Empire operated sovereignty in various forms, such as 'divisible sovereignty' and 'unlimited despotism.' What emerges here is a picture of a political order where the boundaries between state and empire were ambiguous, and which instead survived by sharing sovereignty.

The nation-state is not a 'finished form'

The cases taken up in Part III, such as the American Revolution, the Habsburg Empire, and the transition from the Ottoman Empire to Turkey, show that the nation-state is by no means a 'natural final form.' The fact that even in America, sovereignty theory was in confusion, and Palacký's federalism in the Habsburg Empire, shake the simple schema that 'sovereignty belongs to the people.'
Furthermore, the Italian case discusses the relationship between 'borders' and 'nations' with gender, teaching us that state formation is a product of complex negotiations that are not only political but also social and cultural.

The 'sovereignty' that is translated

Part IV depicts the process by which the concept of 'sovereignty' originating in Europe was translated and reorganized in the non-European world, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Scramble for Africa, and China's transformation from 'tributary' to 'sovereign.' What appears here is not a 'universal principle,' but a form of sovereignty that is accepted while being twisted within an imbalance of power.

Intellectual historical depth

In the final section, the book revisits Bodin, Machiavelli, Richelieu, and others, looking back at 'sovereignty' as political thought. The gap between the 'absolutism' discussed in thought and the actual practices of states and empires is highlighted, emphasizing the historical nature of the concept.

Summary

'Reconsidering the Sovereign State' is a book that shakes the understanding we have taken for granted—that 'sovereignty equals the absolute right of the state'—and illuminates the modern era itself from a different angle.
Even in contemporary international politics, 'respect for sovereignty' is repeatedly mentioned, but when we consider the history of how it has always been a pretext for war and intervention, we realize that sovereignty has rather been something 'negotiated' and 'shared.'
It was a highly suggestive work for deepening the meaning of discussing 'sovereign states' in the age of globalization.

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