ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of four parts, each dedicated to one of the core concepts. First, the state – the institutional structure that upholds the political community as a particular entity – is looked at, and the core issue is the ongoing transformation of the global system. The same distinction also applies to the second part, dedicated to an analysis of the current discourse on sovereignty. This correspondence comes as no surprise as these two concepts have traditionally been closely linked together. The third part of the chapter looks at the different approaches to law – the instituted content of ordering and, perhaps, the clearest expression of a political community's self-determination. The tripartite division applies to the discussion of politics in part four of the chapter. The three main groups of ideas, in this case, are the following: politics-as-consent, politics-as-dissent and politics-as-occasional. Sovereignty and the state are closely interrelated concepts that, according to the Westphalian understanding, constitute two sides of the same coin.
