GÜMPLOVÁ, P.: On Sovereignty and Post-sovereignty
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Philosophica Critica, vol. 1, 2015, no. 2, ISSN 1339-8970, pp. 3–18
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Abstract: This article reconstructs the conceptual development of sovereignty in political theory from the point of view of continuous criticisms and repeated attempts to get rid of the concept. These attempts, I argue, are derived from the essentialist interpretation of sovereignty in terms of the absolute, unitary, and law-less exercise of power. Contemporary debates on human rights, legal pluralism, and transnational governance seem to complete the task of rendering sovereignty obsolete for the explanation of legal and political authority in modern politics. I argue, contrary to these attempts, that a “de-absolutization” of sovereignty is possible and that liberal democracies are in fact dangerous enterprises without sovereignty because sovereignty secures the link between democratic politics and the rule of law – a much needed connection especially in the context of transnational regimes of soft law with democratic deficit or of transnational emergency regimes of economic steering and military interventions.
Key words: Sovereignty – Post-sovereignty – Globalization – Constitutional pluralism
Key words: Sovereignty – Post-sovereignty – Globalization – Constitutional pluralism