Idea Of Sovereignty Research Articles

Reclaiming the body: strategies of resistance in Virgil Ortiz's fashion designs

This paper analyses the fashion spectacles of Virgil Ortiz, a Cochiti potter-turned-fashion designer whose clothing critiques high fashion consumerism, celebrates Indianness and expresses Native pride, and opens a dialogue pertaining to issues of resistance and acts of subversion. As a young potter, Ortiz learned the art of making Muños from his family. This 100-year-old figurative pottery tradition is associated with social commentary, and Ortiz extends this practice to clothing to challenge American fashion culture and express pride in his Pueblo heritage. Ortiz transfers Cochiti aesthetic concepts to the world of fashion: he uses Cochiti composition and colour theory, the tradition of parody and social commentary through performance, storytelling and oral tradition themes, and cultural continuity through subversive creativity. In other words, he uses the lens of Cochiti aesthetics to understand, and express to others, the world around him. To advance his goal of promoting Native language and arts, Ortiz incorporates Pueblo stories and symbols into his garments and shows. As a former governor of his pueblo, Ortiz recognises and values the important roles that language and the arts play in cultural continuity and promoting ideas of sovereignty, self-governance, and nationhood. Ortiz reaffirms ideas pertaining to Cochiti nationhood by ensuring that traditional artistic practices persist.

"Golden Dawn" of the Kyiv Metropolis and the leading tendencies of confessionalization of the Ukrainian church-religious environment in the first half of the XVII century

Actualization of the study of the phenomenon of the "golden age" of the Kyiv Metropolis is due to many factors, the key place of which is the idea of ​​national-religious self-identification of Ukrainians at the present stage of state-building and development of the Ukrainian nation. This complex task is inextricably linked with the idea of ​​sovereignty and unity of the state, which is one of the important prerequisites for the proclamation of the autocephalous structure and territoriality of the church, and therefore requires not only theoretical substantiation but also the search for historical and title models of its realization, one of which is the idea Ukrainian Patriarchate as a Local Church. This idea, left to us by inheritance as a great devotee of faith and piety, is a church-religious and political figure, a scientist and theologian, the first-priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Peter Mogila, and still remains unrealized to this day.

Southeast Asia. Hugo Grotius, the Portuguese and free trade in the East Indies. By Peter Borschberg. Singapore: NUS Press, 2011. Pp. xxv + 482. Maps, Illustrations, Appendix, Notes, Bibliography, Index.

Hugo Grotius, the Portuguese and free trade in the East Indies By PETER BORSCHBERG Singapore: NUS Press, 2011. Pp. xxv + 482. Maps, Illustrations, Appendix, Notes, Bibliography, Index. In this scholarly and tightly-argued book, Peter Borschberg re-examines Hugo Grotius's De Iure Praedae (and that part of it that appeared as Mare Liberum in particular), considering why and how the jurist composed the work, what sources he used, and what long-term impact resulted. Grotius is usually assumed to have been a champion of freedom of navigation and access to markets, but Borschberg suggests this image needs considerable qualification. De Iure Praedae was nota product of independent scholarship, having been commissioned by the VOC (Dutch East India Company). Its purpose was to demonstrate that the Dutch seizure in the Johor River estuary in February 1603 of the Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina off Singapore was just and lawful rather than an act of piracy. Fundamental to Grotius's argument was that, because the Portuguese had denied the Dutch their natural right to access Asian markets via the maritime highways, which were open to ali and over which no sovereign lawfully exercised lordship, the VOC was entitled to retaliate with force. Moreover, the seizure of the Santa Catarina was demonstrably lawful because the company was acting in support of the king of Johor--an ally with full sovereign rights, who was, at the time, at war with the Portuguese. As well as finding that De Iure Praedae was a tendentious work, Borschberg concludes that it was based on unacceptably 'sloppy' research. This he deduces from careful and telling analysis not only of the text of De lure Praedae itself, but also of Grotius's seldom-consulted notes and working fragments, which are now in the Leiden University Library. These sources are particularly revealing on how Grotius went about his work. They show that he did not undertake any independent research in the VOC archives. Nor did he have access to any substantial Portuguese sources, relying instead on just a limited range of Spanish material, particularly the writings of the celebrated sixteenth-century theologian and jurist, Francisco de Vitoria of Salamanca--who was, however, writing not about maritime Asia but the quite different situation in Spanish America. As Borschberg clearly demonstrates, Grotius had minimal knowledge and understanding of Portuguese commercial structures in maritime Asia and of the theoretical and legal concepts that underlay them. He knew even less about Malay kingship and ideas of sovereignty, and about Southeast Asian geography. …

The People Shall Be Judge

This essay offers an interpretation of Kant’s republicanism in light of the problem of political judgment. Kant is sometimes thought to base his conception of law on an idea of sovereignty drawn from Hobbes and Rousseau, which would leave little room for popular contestation of the state. In this essay, I reconstruct Kant’s account of the rule of law by bringing out the importance of his theory of judgment. I argue that for Kant the civil condition is ultimately characterized by a contest between the judgment of the sovereign and the judgment of the people, which corresponds to the determinative and reflective employments of political judgment, respectively. On this view, popular sovereignty is ultimately located in the people’s power to judge politically and contest publicly the state.

What did Quebeckers Want? Impact of Question Wording, Constitutional Proposal and Context on Support for Sovereignty, 1976–2008

The idea of sovereignty has been part of Québec's political landscape for more than 45 years, giving rise to two referendums. Throughout this period, pollsters surveyed the population. Using close to 700 polls published since the first election of Parti Québécois in 1976, this article examines how support for sovereignty evolved outside the referendum campaigns and since the last one in the Fall of 1995. Using longitudinal multilevel analysis, it takes into account two levels of explanation: first, the wording of the question, which includes the type of constitutional proposal polled; and second, the passage of time and the events that marked it. This meta-analysis confirms that sovereignty combined with an association with the rest of Canada has always stood apart from more “extreme” constitutional options as having the highest support, and it therefore automatically resurfaced at the start of any referendum campaign. It also confirms that the different events that marked the period only had a temporary effect on support for sovereignty.

The National Aboriginal Conference and the Makarrata: Sovereignty and Treaty Discussions, 1979–1981

This article examines the different understandings of sovereignty that were developed through Australian Indigenous campaigns for a treaty in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It begins with an assessment of the National Aboriginal Conference's call for a treaty in 1979, which was replaced by a seemingly more moderate proposal for a makarrata. These ideas were debated by other Indigenous people who proposed more radical positions. This article argues that Aboriginal ideas of sovereignty were diverse, in flux, and sometimes contradictory, as Indigenous leaders experimented with new ways to achieve greater independence and power.

Stranger-Kingship and Cosmocracy; or, Sahlins in Southwest China

Major works of the ninth to seventeenth centuries have described the kingship of the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms (652–1254) of Southwest China. I argue that these narratives may be understood in terms of the modes of identifying and assimilating the cosmological alterity proposed by Marshall Sahlins: ‘stranger-kingship’, which depicted the king as a stranger; and ‘cosmocracy’, which depicted him as a universal ruler—a ‘cosmocrator’. While a stranger-king was to some extent an extra-social, guest associated with the wild and untamed, and also partly an affine of the autochthonous people, a cosmocrator was a supra-social, moral host, and envisaged more as a consanguine of the subject people. These two pre-modern ideas of sovereignty are constituent parts of Sahlins's ‘elementary forms of the politics of life’, so that one cannot be reduced to the other.

Domestic Implementation of International Law

Austin called international law “positive international morality.” According to Austin, law is the command of the sovereign, and the indeterminacy of sovereign at the international level and the lack of coercive force had made him classify international law as mere positive morality. Indeed, the sovereignty of the nation-State is one of the foundational principles of international law. International norms were binding on the States only to the extent expressly consented to by them. Enforcement was based on, what may be called, “naming and shaming.” The loss of good faith at the international arena functioned as the only mechanism to ensure compliance with international norms. Over the years now the concept and vigour of international law has seen gradual and momentous change. The contours of sovereignty have evolved so much that we no longer speak with a prescriptive notion of sovereignty, but are rather trying to devise effective mechanisms, both at national and international levels, for furthering the benefits of people individually as well as collectively. The corollary to the traditional conception of sovereignty was the respect for and non-interference with the domestic legal system. But with the transition in the idea of sovereignty nation-States now have to ensure harmony of domestic law with international law. Compliance with international law is no longer an act of morality, but necessary and, in fact, enforceable. This transition primarily occurred due to the interdependence of the States in all walks of life – a move from self-dependence to globalisation. States no longer are mere contributors of law, but are both contributors and recipients of law. India is no exception to this.

Building Communities and Simulating the Nation: Politics of Engaging the “Other” in the First Season of Survivor Philippines

Modernist and integrationist theories tend to see the process of nation building as a “game” of surviving. However, the idea of a “surviving” nation, which is shaped according to the logic of the game of politics as domination, is antithetical to the organic processes of institution building consistent with the habitus of the diverse social formations which are found in the Philippines. In these organic spaces, a unified community is born not out of an idea of a subordinated “other” being eliminated, but of “others” being accommodated in the larger society. Survival is not an individualistic and Darwinian process of weeding out the weak, but as a communitarian invitation towards a shared meaning system that is drawn from positions of difference, in which the other is not subordinated, but is just different, and in which the idea of sovereignty is not colonizing the sense of autonomy of these different subjectivities. This theoretical argument will be supported by how the Philippine adaptation of the Survivor franchise, through the first season of the reality TV program Survivor Philippines, has effectively confronted the western construct inherent in the very idea of the game, as seen on how it is played in its American versions. How the game was played, crafted and interpreted in its Filipino version has challenged the Machiavellian concept of politics, and the Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest. This is done by depicting the process of building communities from the fragments of multiple identities as one in which the politics of conflict and contestation is resolved not towards elimination and assimilation of the defeated weaker “other,” but of accommodation and tolerance of those who are just different.

On the rise and Decline of the Monarchical Principle: Constitutional Vicissitudes in Spain and Germany

Nation-state formation – Holy Roman Empire – Dissolution and realignment – Spain, fragmented – Reconquista – Charles V – Wars of succession – Centralisation under house of Bourbon – Napoleon – Spanish war of independence – History of the Cortes – Constitution of Cádiz – Weakness of Spanish Constitutionalism – German Confederation – Monarchical principle in Vienna Final Act – Old and new ideas of sovereignty – Metternich and fear of revolution – March revolution – Bismarckian empire as constitutional monarchy – Degeneration of the Reich – Exit the Kings – Enter Juan Carlos

Building Communities and Simulating the Nation: Politics of Engaging the “Other” in the First Season of Survivor Philippines

Modernist and integrationist theories tend to see the process of nation building as a “game” of surviving. However, the idea of a “surviving” nation, which is shaped according to the logic of the game of politics as domination, is antithetical to the organic processes of institution building consistent with the habitus of the diverse social formations which are found in the Philippines. In these organic spaces, a unified community is born not out of an idea of a subordinated “other” being eliminated, but of “others” being accommodated in the larger society. Survival is not an individualistic and Darwinian process of weeding out the weak, but as a communitarian invitation towards a shared meaning system that is drawn from positions of difference, in which the other is not subordinated, but is just different, and in which the idea of sovereignty is not colonizing the sense of autonomy of these different subjectivities. This theoretical argument will be supported by how the Philippine adaptation of the Survi...

The Myth of Tribal Sovereignty: An Analysis of Native American Tribal Status in the United States

AbstractThis article will first explore the history of Native American relations with the United States, examining early treatment of tribal nations by the U.S. government. It will then discuss the idea of sovereignty, more specifically as it relates to Native American tribes. The argument section rejects the idea that Native American Tribes are Sovereign Nations, explains why their current status is more akin to that of “States” by highlighting the similarities between state rights and current Native American, but concludes that native tribes are really quasi-states because they lack protection under the idea of federalism. The final section will discuss native views on the topic.

From 'Sovereignty as Responsibility' to the 'Responsibility to Protect'

AbstractThis essay examines the origins and evolution of the concepts of 'sovereignty as responsibility' and the 'responsibility to protect'. In particular, it considers the role and duty of states and how ideas of sovereignty have evolved since the modern nation-state was conceived by the European Treaty of Westphalia of 1648. It then examines the responsibility of states towards their own citizens and traces the development of the R2P norm in Africa as it has related to conflict prevention, management, and resolution since the end of the Cold War. The essay further considers the responsibilities of national democratic governments in Africa and beyond. Recent developments that have widened the scope and helped the acceptance and application of the concept of 'sovereignty as responsibility' are discussed, and the essay concludes with an examination of the accountability and enforcement challenges faced by R2P.

Law and Sovereignty

How is it possible that the idea of sovereignty still features in law and legal philosophy? Sovereignty is normally taken to refer to absolute power. Yet modern law assumes that power is exercised by officials constrained by legal rules and the rule of law. This essay argues that a closer look at sovereignty and law shows that the first impression is correct: law and sovereignty are mutually exclusive. Philosophically speaking, sovereignty is and has always been incompatible with the rule of law and with constitutional law itself. Sovereignty and constitutional government are mutually exclusive.

Teologia biopolityczna Giorgio Agambena

The aim of this paper is to present Giorgio Agamben's biopolitical theory in the context of the relationship between the logic of sovereignty and 'bare life'. The first part of the paper presents the foundations of his political thought and, in connection with Carl Schmitt's idea of sovereignty, considers the problem of defining the category of the state of emergency. According to Agamben the principle of sovereignty is constructed on the integrating exclusion of bare life, which is represented by the homo sacer, as one who may be killed but cannot be sacrificed. This will be the central figure of Agamben's thought and also the topic of the next part of this paper. According to the author of Profanation, the figure of the homo sacer as excluded from both secular and sacred law, reaches its highest form in the Nazi concentration camp, which is the space of legal authority where no law exists. In the last part of the paper we will argue in favor of Agamben, that the camp represents a state of emergency and also constitutes a paradigm of western biopolitics.

The Catholic Church, Human Rights and Democracy: Convergence and Conflict with the Modern State

This book chapter traces the history of the Catholic Church's relationship to the modern state, focusing on the idea of sovereignty and the development of human rights and democracy. It argues that the Catholic Church's relationship to human rights and democracy in the modern world can only be understood as reflective of both a historical convergence and a persistent tension and ambivalence. The first part argues for this dual theme in the development of Catholic doctrine, where today, as over the past several centuries, the Church's conception of the common good yields both an embrace of human rights and democracy and a critique of certain aspects of their secular espousal. The second part illustrates how this parallel acceptance and tension is manifested in practice, showing that the Church's efforts to advance its teachings on human rights and democracy sometimes succeed and sometimes encounter resistance, both on account of conceptual differences with modern states and international organizations as well as because of obstructing institutional realities.

Seeking in Modern Athens an Answer to the Ancient Jerusalem Question

Carl Schmitt's Political Theology, recycled into The Concept of the Political, was meant to be to political theory what the Book of Job has been to Judaism, and through Judaism to Christianity. It was intended/designed/ hoped to answer one of the most notoriously haunting of the born-in-Jerusalem questions: a sort of question with which the most famous of the born-in-Jerusalem ideas, the idea of the one and only God, omnipresent and omnipotent creator, judge and saviour of the whole Earth and the whole humanity, could not but be pregnant. The question, however, had to be born once the Hebrew Prophet Jesus declared the omnipotent God to be in addition the God of Love, and when his disciple, St Paul, brought the good tidings to Athens — a place where questions, once asked, were expected to be answered, and answered in tune with the rules of logic. Taking absolute power, the God of monotheistic religion took absolute responsibility for the blessings and blows of fate. The Book of Job recasts the frightening randomness of Nature as the frightening arbitrariness of its ruler: God speaks and gives commands. But just like numb Nature, he is not bound by what humans think or do. He can make exceptions. Indeed, the rule of norm is by definition irreconcilable with a true sovereignty — with the absolute power to decide. To be absolute, power must include the right to neglect/suspend/ abolish the norm. Schmitt's idea of sovereignty would engrave the preformed vision of divine order onto the ground of legislative order. Power to exempt founds simultaneously God's absolute power and the human's continuing, incurable fear born of insecurity. This is exactly what happens, according to Schmitt, in case of the human sovereign no longer handcuffed by norms. Thanks to that power of exemption, humans are, as they were in the pre-Law times, vulnerable and uncertain.

Against Biopolitics: Walter Benjamin, Carl Schmitt, and Giorgio Agamben on Political Sovereignty and Symbolic Order1

While Walter Benjamin's equation of law with violence leads to his affirmation of a kind of un‐mediated divine violence and Giorgio Agamben's notion of sovereignty links politics directly with the body, Carl Schmitt's idea of sovereignty does not concern itself primarily with bare life but with an acculturated subject that links law and politics to a particular tradition. Because he is always concerned about this relationship between culture and politics, Schmitt offers a concept of the political that is better able to explain the kinds of ideological and cultural factors that impact upon politics in situations such as the Weimar Republic or the civil war in Iraq, in which cultural conflict leads to political instability. His thinking suggests that the cultural analysis of both religious and secular literary traditions can throw light on the ideological commitments that motivate political conflict.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army and Space Warfare

Space warfare will be an integrated part of battle planning by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in any future conflict with the United States. The People's Liberation Army has carefully absorbed and is reacting to what the American armed forces have published on space warfare and counter-space operations. Chinese strategists and legal scholars are engaged in an internal debate on how traditional ideas of sovereignty and the laws of war apply in space. One authoritative volume explored the importance of ensuring that the People's Liberation Army sets out legal justifications for military actions in advance of any conflict. Chinese scholars believe that many of the concepts surrounding the conduct of war on the “common seas” apply in space. Also, there is disagreement between the United States and China on the American position on outer space. The United States treats “peaceful uses” to mean “non-aggressive,” whereas the Chinese interpretation is that to be peaceful uses, it must be “non-military.”

Crisis atlántica: Autonomía e independencia en la crisis de la monarquía hispanaEl sueño criollo: La formación del doble constitucionalismo en el País Vasco y Navarra

Crisis atlántica: Autonomía e independencia en la crisis de la monarquía hispanaEl sueño criollo: La formación del doble constitucionalismo en el País Vasco y Navarra