Decolonizing Westphalia: Beyond Absolute Sovereignty

• In Event: Rethinking Sovereignty

Abstract

Sovereignty is a foundational concept for international relations (IR) theory and provides the primary moral and institutional architecture for our contemporary world order. A central normative function of the idea of sovereignty in IR is presumably to democratize international politics by rendering imperial conquest illegitimate. Yet historically, the opposite has been true: the evolution of the modern state system has coincided with European imperial expansion, with devastating consequences for the Indigenous peoples upon whom European sovereignty was forcefully imposed. This undemocratic history makes it urgent to uncover avenues of resistance to ideas of sovereignty that have been used to justify European imperialism. This has not gone unnoticed. To illustrate, in the Canadian context, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has repudiated the absurd doctrines of discovery and terra nullius and highlighted the prominent role played by these ideas of sovereignty in the legitimation of imperial conquest. While this is a good start, it is not enough for confronting the legacies of imperialism. I argue that the decolonization of world order requires the rejection of the idea of absolute sovereignty that is commonly associated with Westphalia in IR. I suggest that this dominant discourse about Westphalia must be replaced by a more democratic narrative of sovereignty grounded in toleration and minority rights. Historically, this rival image of democratic sovereignty can be traced back to less noticed aspects of the Westphalian settlement itself. I then consider whether this revisionist account of Westphalian sovereignty can provide the conceptual resources for theorizing democratic renewal in ways that make room for Indigenous self-determination in contemporary democracies.

Author

• Nancy Bertoldi, University of Toronto