Federalism as State Formation in India: A Theory of Shared and Negotiated Sovereignty

Abstract

In the master narrative of the formation of the modern state, its unified, monopoly sovereignty is presented as universal, the natural culmination of a teleological process. We challenge the naturalness and universality of that claim by historicizing the sovereignty concept. We do so by examining the history of state formation in late medieval and early modern Europe. When, why and how were sovereignty concepts constructed and contested are questions that engage the politics of category formation. After historicizing the sovereignty concept, we turn to the study of federalism in India as state formation process rather than studying it constitutionally or comparatively.