State sovereignty, statist bordering principles, and the statocentric spatio-political imaginary

Abstract

In this paper I investigate the process of modern State formation focusing on the spatiality of the State, bordering in particular, and its links to State sovereignty. The State has its double origin in the collapse of the faith-based unity of Respublica Christiana in Europe and in the colonial encounter with non-European peoples of the New World. Contrary to the theories of modern State formation that consider it to be a European endogenous process, I argue that colonialism was a necessary condition for the emergence of the modern State. In particular, colonialism was essential for the emergence of the notion of sovereign equality of States among European rulers, and of the statist bordering principles of fixity and clear inside/outside distinction that were first implemented in the New World. In the paper I trace how sovereignty and bordering come together in the political form of the State, trace theoretical and practical links between the two, and explore the statocentric spatio-political imaginary.