Constructing Sovereignty Between Politics and Law

The concept of state sovereignty is the subject of great controversy within the fields of international law and international relations, with many attempting to grapple with the puzzle of resilient sovereign statehood amidst developments that would seem to undermine it. Aalberts (international relations, Leiden U., the Netherlands) approaches this question by focusing on the relationship between international relations as a daily practice and the politico-legal concept of state sovereignty as both medium and outcome of international relations. In this manner, sovereignty is understood as both socially constructed through and contingent on the practices and rituals of coreflective statesmen, judges, and academics and thus as simultaneously given fact and constantly constructed norm. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Tanja E. Aalberts is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Leiden University, the Netherlands.