The State of Sovereignty

Following up on the fables and stories surrounding political sovereignty—once theological, now often nationalist—Peter Gratton'sThe State of Sovereignty takes aim at the central concepts surrounding the post-9/11 political environment. Against those content to conceptualize what has been called the "sovereign exception," Gratton argues that sovereignty underwent profound changes during modernity, changes tracked by Rousseau, Arendt, Foucault, Agamben, and Derrida. Each of these thinkers investigated the "fictions" and "illusions" of claims to sovereign omnipotence, while outlining what would become the preeminent problems of racism, nationalism, and biopower. Gratton illustrates the principal claims that tie these philosophers together and, more importantly, what lessons they offer, perhaps in spite of themselves, for those thinking about the future of politics. His innovative readings will open new ground for new and longtime readers of these philosophers alike, while confronting how their critiques of sovereignty reshape our conceptions of identity, freedom, and selfhood. The result not only fills a long-standing need for an up-to-date analysis of the concept of sovereignty but is also a tour de force engaging readers in the most important political and philosophical questions today.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Vase of Soissons and the Lessons of Sovereignty
The Noble Thesis and the Ends of Pagan Sovereignty
Where Sovereignty Lies Today

1. Rousseau and the Right of Life and Death over the Body Politic

The State of Sovereignty after theSocial Contract
Contracting the Sovereign
Lessons from “L’artifice et le jeu” of Sovereignty
Men and Citizens, Life and Death
The Sovereign Pardon

2. Arendt’s Archaeology of Sovereignty

The Fragmented Past and The Future of the Political
Beginning Again: TheArchē of the Political
Finding a Home in the Political

3. “The World is at Stake”: Sovereignty and the Right to Have Rights

Sovereign Totalitarianism
The Rise of the Nation-State
Policing the State

4. Torturing Sovereignty: Foucault’s Regicide in Theory

Genealogies in the Multiple
Sovereign Madness
Histories of the State of Sovereignty
The Rise of the Nation-State
Bio-political Sovereignty
Foucault, Schmitt, and “the King Who Rules but Does not Govern”
Beyond the Sovereign Decision
Sovereign Freedom, or Freedom from Sovereignty

5. What More Is There to Say? Agamben and the Hyperbole of Sovereignty

The Sacrifice of History
Homo Sacer: The Significance of Words
From Homo Sacer to Vir Sacer
The Glory of Another Sovereignty
Sovereign Relations
Last Words: The Language of Sovereignty and Noo-Politics
The Hyperbole that Remains

6. Derrida and the Limits of Sovereignty’s Reason: Freedom, Equality, but Not Fraternity

Le Tres Haut of Mount Moriah
Freedom, Equality, but Not Fraternity

Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index