Shifting Sovereignties explores practical manifestations of sovereignty from antiquity to the Anthropocene. Taking a global history perspective and centring Africa, the Middle East and Asia, it destabilises overly neat theoretical notions of the concept, and shows that in practice sovereignty is far from absolute, perpetual, indivisible and supreme, but rather fuzzy, compromised, fragmented, and layered. From these observations, Shifting Sovereignties derives a historical conceptualisation of sovereignty, making change and contingency a core aspect of the understanding of sovereignty. Rather than understanding sovereignty as a characteristic of individual states, we 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 we 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. The book thus contributes a practical, historical perspective on a concept which is foundational in political science, international relations, and international law.

Moritz A. Mihatsch, University of Cambridge, UK; Michael R. Mulligan, Euro University of Bahrain.