Sovereignty in Post-Sovereign Society by Přibáň, Jiří;

Short description:

This book comprehends the persistence of sovereignty as a political and juridical concept in the post-sovereign social condition, and reformulates the concept and its persistence as part of the self-referential communication of the systems of positive law and politics. The author uses several contemporary European examples, developments and paradoxes and argues that the modern question of sovereignty permanently oscillating between de iure authority and de facto power cannot be discarded by theories of supranational and transnational globalized law and politics.

Long description:

Sovereignty marks the boundary between politics and law. Highlighting the legal context of politics and the political context of law, it thus contributes to the internal dynamics of both political and legal systems. This book comprehends the persistence of sovereignty as a political and juridical concept in the post-sovereign social condition. The tension and paradoxical relationship between the semantics and structures of sovereignty and post-sovereignty are addressed by using the conceptual framework of the autopoietic social systems theory. Using a number of contemporary European examples, developments and paradoxes, the author examines topics of immense interest and importance relating to the concept of sovereignty in a globalising world. The study argues that the modern question of sovereignty permanently oscillating between de iure authority and de facto power cannot be discarded by theories of supranational and transnational globalized law and politics. Criticising quasi-theological conceptualizations of political sovereignty and its juridical form, the study reformulates the concept of sovereignty and its persistence as part of the self-referential communication of the systems of positive law and politics. The book will be of considerable interest to academics and researchers in political, legal and social theory and philosophy.

"In his impressive book Jiří Přibáň tackles the controversies currently surrounding the key concept of sovereignty in a truly magisterial way. Not only does Přibáň provide an in-depth interdisciplinary account of sovereignty, but also, in a veritable tour de force, he develops a novel approach based on autopoeitic systems theory that repositions sovereignty as a semantic connector between law and politics. Přibáň's hypothesis deserves careful consideration by anyone seeking to overcome the impasse between an obsolete nation-state based conception of sovereignty and ill-fitting transnational counterparts." - Michel Rosenfeld, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, USA

"If popular sovereignty still holds a key to the political imaginary of the age, despite its continued erosion in the face of the supposed givens of economic science, the aim of this fascinating book is to bring the concept back to the fore in all its productive ambivalence. Přibáň brings an impressive knowledge of systems-theory to navigate the field of post-sovereignty in an incisive analysis of the dialectic between the persistent political and legal semantics of sovereignty and the changes in the underlying structures of political organization in a globalized world."- Emilios Christodoulidis, University of Glasgow, UK

"This book provides an important reconstruction of theories of sovereignty and an original discussion of their position in current legal and political realities. It contains a distinctive argument in a generally crowded field of research, and it shows how systems-theoretical approaches, placing emphasis on semantics and self-description, can be applied to illuminate theoretical constructions in law and politics." - Christopher Thornhill, Manchester University, UK

Table of Contents:

Introduction; Part I Cases and Concepts; Chapter 1 Multiple Sovereignty in the EU; Chapter 2 Sovereignty, or Post-Sovereignty?; Part II Concepts and Theories; Chapter 3 Sovereignty and the Constitutional State; Chapter 4 No More Sovereignty?; Chapter 5 Power in Sovereignty and its Popular Legitimation; Part III Theories and Systems; Chapter 6 The Evolution of the EU’s Political and Legal Autopoiesis; Chapter 7 Desiring a Democratic European Polity; Chapter 101 Postscript Sovereignty of Popular Memories;