ABSTRACT
In this book, we argue that the current movement against state sovereignty participates in the degradation of political agency at both the domestic and international levels. The case against sovereignty is generally cast as a way of opening up our political imagination to new understandings of power and new possibilities for organizing the world. But its substance is to limit our sense of political possibility, and to sever the relationship between the exercise of power and political responsibility. As a consequence, there is little that is progressive about the current retreat from state sovereignty. The result is that we endure all the negative aspects of sovereignty, and enjoy few of its potential benefits. The sovereign state, however imperfect, still provides the best framework for the organization of collective political life. That, at least, is what we aim to show in this book.
