This book offers an in-depth examination of the strategic use of State sovereignty in contemporary European and international affairs and the consequences of this for authority relations in Europe and beyond. It suggests a new approach to the study of State sovereignty, proposing to understand the use of sovereignty as games where States are becoming more instrumental in their claims to sovereignty and skilled in adapting it to the challenges that they face
This book examines how sovereignty works in the context of European integration and postcolonialism. Focusing on a group of micro-polities associated with the European Union, it offers a new understanding of international relations in the context of modern sovereignty. This book offers a systematic and comparative analysis of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), the EU and the four affected Member States: UK, France, the Netherlands and Denmark. Contributors explore how states and state-like entities play 'sovereignty games' to understand how a group of postcolonial entities may strategically use their ambiguous status in relation to sovereignty. The book examines why former colonies are seeking greater room to manoeuvre on their own, whilst simultaneously developing a close relationship to the supranational EU. Methodologically sophisticated, this interdisciplinary volume combines interviews, participant observation, textual, legal and institutional analysis for a new theoretical approach to understanding the strategic possibilities and subjectivity of non-sovereign entities in international politics. Bringing together research on European integration and postcolonial theory, European Integration and Postcolonial Sovereignty Games will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, EU studies, Postcolonial studies, International Law and Political Theory.
Greenland views itself as being on the way to sovereignty. This image – and the tensions involved in it – structure the triangular relation between the EU, Greenland and Denmark. The central Other of Greenland has for a couple of centuries been Denmark, the colonial overlord. The national identity discourses of Greenland and Denmark both idealize national homogeneity. A central condition for a continuation of Rigsfællesskabet, the 'community of the realm' including Greenland and Denmark, is the idea that Greenland still needs external assistance in its development towards independence - and that this idea can be formulated in a way which does not infantilize Greenland metaphorically. As part of the postcolonial diversification of Greenland's dependency, the bilateral relation between Denmark and Greenland has gradually been opened up to involve 'other others'. Meanwhile, a discourse prognosticates that climate change is opening up the Arctic to minerals extraction and commerce. In these circumstances, the triangular relation with the EU is played out as a series of rhetorical and practical 'sovereignty games', in Nuuk, Copenhagen and Brussels. Particularly, a number of strategies are employed to minimize the apparent role of Denmark for the Greenlandic relations to the EU. The book approaches these changes in national identity discourse and practical foreign policy in five analytical steps: The core concepts organizing Danish and Greenlandic identity are identified in discourse analyses. Political debates are read as political identity negotiations. The practical diplomatic management of clashing identity discourses is uncovered via qualitative interviews with key actors (politicians, diplomats, and civil servants from Greenland, Denmark and the EU). Legal texts are approached as the 'frozen' outcome of rhetorical and practical sovereignty games. Finally, the book develops scenarios for the future and concludes by pointing out how the continuation of the community of the realm may have a better chance if conceived as an 'ever looser union'. One way for Denmark of facilitating this image would be to employ its diplomacy in the service of diversifying Greenland's dependence - following the example set in relation to the EU.
Secession and the Sovereignty Game offers a comprehensive strategic theory for how secessionist movements attempt to win independence. Combining original data analysis, fieldwork, interviews with secessionist leaders, and case studies on Catalonia, the Murrawarri Republic, West Papua, Bougainville, New Caledonia, and Northern Cyprus, Ryan D. Griffiths shows how the rules and informal practices of sovereign recognition create a strategic playing field between existing states and aspiring nations that he terms "the sovereignty game." To win sovereign statehood, all secessionist movements have to maneuver on the same strategic playing field while varying their tactics according to local conditions. To obtain recognition, secessionist movements use tactics of electoral capture, nonviolent civil resistance, and violence. To persuade the home state and the international community, they appeal to normative arguments regarding earned sovereignty, decolonization, the right to choose, inherent sovereignty, and human rights. The pursuit of independence can be enormously disruptive and is quite often violent. By advancing a theory that explains how sovereign recognition has succeeded in the past and is working in the present, and by anticipating the practices of future secessionist movements, Secession and the Sovereignty Game also prescribes solutions that could make the sovereignty game less conflictual.
Greenland views itself as being on the way to sovereignty. This image – and the tensions involved in it – structure the triangular relation between the EU, Greenland and Denmark. The central Other of Greenland has for a couple of centuries been Denmark, the colonial overlord. The national identity discourses of Greenland and Denmark both idealize national homogeneity. A central condition for a continuation of Rigsfællesskabet, the 'community of the realm' including Greenland and Denmark, is the idea that Greenland still needs external assistance in its development towards independence - and that this idea can be formulated in a way which does not infantilize Greenland metaphorically. As part of the postcolonial diversification of Greenland's dependency, the bilateral relation between Denmark and Greenland has gradually been opened up to involve 'other others'. Meanwhile, a discourse prognosticates that climate change is opening up the Arctic to minerals extraction and commerce. In these circumstances, the triangular relation with the EU is played out as a series of rhetorical and practical 'sovereignty games', in Nuuk, Copenhagen and Brussels. Particularly, a number of strategies are employed to minimize the apparent role of Denmark for the Greenlandic relations to the EU. The book approaches these changes in national identity discourse and practical foreign policy in five analytical steps: The core concepts organizing Danish and Greenlandic identity are identified in discourse analyses. Political debates are read as political identity negotiations. The practical diplomatic management of clashing identity discourses is uncovered via qualitative interviews with key actors (politicians, diplomats, and civil servants from Greenland, Denmark and the EU). Legal texts are approached as the 'frozen' outcome of rhetorical and practical sovereignty games. Finally, the book develops scenarios for the future and concludes by pointing out how the continuation of the community of the realm may have a better chance if conceived as an 'ever looser union'. One way for Denmark of facilitating this image would be to employ its diplomacy in the service of diversifying Greenland's dependence - following the example set in relation to the EU.
This book examines how sovereignty works in the context of European integration and postcolonialism. Focusing on a group of micro-polities associated with the European Union, it offers a new understanding of international relations in the context of modern sovereignty. This book offers a systematic and comparative analysis of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), the EU and the four affected Member States: UK, France, the Netherlands and Denmark. Contributors explore how states and state-like entities play ‘sovereignty games’ to understand how a group of postcolonial entities may strategically use their ambiguous status in relation to sovereignty. The book examines why former colonies are seeking greater room to manoeuvre on their own, whilst simultaneously developing a close relationship to the supranational EU. Methodologically sophisticated, this interdisciplinary volume combines interviews, participant observation, textual, legal and institutional analysis for a new theoretical approach to understanding the strategic possibilities and subjectivity of non-sovereign entities in international politics. Bringing together research on European integration and postcolonial theory, European Integration and Postcolonial Sovereignty Games will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, EU studies, Postcolonial studies, International Law and Political Theory.
Examines Indian gaming in detail: what it is, how it became on of the most politically charged phenomena for tribes and states today, and the legal and political compromises that shape its present and will determine its future.
This book explores the change and continuity in the idea of the nation state. Since the Westphalian treaties and the political thought of Thomas Hobbes, the nation state has been the denominator of all geopolitics. In an era of populism, economic globalization, digitalization, and the Chinese party-state, scholars of sovereignty have been struggling to understand whether the nation-state remains relevant as a necessary heuristic. This book will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, investors, and citizens navigating a fast-changing world.
In 1979, Florida Seminoles opened the first tribally operated high-stakes bingo hall in North America. At the time, their annual budget stood at less than $2 million. By 2006, net income from gaming had surpassed $600 million. This dramatic shift from poverty to relative economic security has created tangible benefits for tribal citizens, including employment, universal health insurance, and social services. Renewed political self-governance and economic strength have reversed decades of U.S. settler-state control. At the same time, gaming has brought new dilemmas to reservation communities and triggered outside accusations that Seminoles are sacrificing their culture by embracing capitalism. In High Stakes, Jessica R. Cattelino tells the story of Seminoles’ complex efforts to maintain politically and culturally distinct values in a time of new prosperity. Cattelino presents a vivid ethnographic account of the history and consequences of Seminole gaming. Drawing on research conducted with tribal permission, she describes casino operations, chronicles the everyday life and history of the Seminole Tribe, and shares the insights of individual Seminoles. At the same time, she unravels the complex connections among cultural difference, economic power, and political rights. Through analyses of Seminole housing, museum and language programs, legal disputes, and everyday activities, she shows how Seminoles use gaming revenue to enact their sovereignty. They do so in part, she argues, through relations of interdependency with others. High Stakes compels rethinking of the conditions of indigeneity, the power of money, and the meaning of sovereignty.
This book explores the interplay between sovereignty, politics and law through different conceptualizations of sovereignty. Despite developments such as European integration, globalization, and state failure, sovereignty proves to be a resilient institution in contemporary international politics. This book investigates both the continuity and change of sovereignty through an examination of the different ways it is understood; sovereignty as an institution, as identity; as a (language) game; and as subjectivity. In this illuminating book, Aalberts examines sovereign statehood as a political-legal concept, an institutional product of modern international society, and seeks an interdisciplinary approach that combines international relations and international law. This book traces the consequences of this origin for the conceptualization of sovereign statehood in modern academic discourse, drawing on key jurisprudence and international treaties, and provides a new framework to consider the international significance of sovereignty. As an innovative approach to a critical institution, Constructing Sovereignty between Politics and Law will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, international relations theory and international law.
