Sovereignty Costs

• In Event: Rethinking Sovereignty

Abstract

Sovereignty structures the international order in ways that makes it possible for certain states to be sovereign at the expense of other states and peoples. The fantasy of sovereignty as a promise of self-determination, autonomy, and supreme authority within a territory for the nation-state is a misrecognition of the basic conditions of international politics. Certain states pay sovereignty costs and bear a disproportionate burden of the system so that other states can enjoy the sovereignty they desire. I argue that ‘sovereignty costs’ are not externalities or deviations from a system of sovereign states but are an intrinsic feature of sovereignty. The sovereign self must be sovereign over others to feel a sense of agency. The desire for the fantasy of sovereignty is sustained by sovereignty costs, whether for states that pay them or those that reap the benefits.

Author

• Shah Zeb Chaudhary, Northwestern University