Shifting Sovereignties: A Global History of a Concept in Practice

Wed 12 March

Jesus College

Join Dr Moritz Mihatsch for the launch of his new book Shifting Sovereignties, which explores practical manifestations of sovereignty from antiquity to the Anthropocene.

Dr Mihatsch (University of Cambridge) will discuss the book in conversation with Prof Jeremy Adelman (Princeton University and University of Cambridge).

After the discussion, Dr Mihatsch would be delighted to welcome all attendees to a drinks reception celebrating the book's launch.

About Shifting Sovereignties

Taking a global-history perspective and centring Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, Shifting Sovereignties, destabilises overly neat theoretical notions of sovereignty. It shows that, in practice, sovereignty is far from absolute, perpetual, indivisible, or supreme; rather it is fuzzy, compromised, fragmented, and layered.

Rather than understanding sovereignty as a characteristic of individual states, Mihatsch and co-author Michael Mulligan propose the notion of “sovereignty regimes”: frameworks of legitimation enforced through mutual recognition. These regimes are created and managed by more or less institutionalised structures which embody what the authors call “system sovereignty.” Sovereignty regimes and system sovereignty are, like sovereignty itself, continuously changing and contingent. This process of change forms the core of the book.

Shifting Sovereignties thus contributes a practical, historical perspective on a concept which is foundational in political science, international relations, and international law.

Cost: Free of charge