ABSTRACT
Absolute sovereignty—a government’s claim to unlimited, undivided, and unaccountable authority over its citizens and territory—can sound anachronistic to the contemporary reader, but it underlies international law, trade agreements, defense pacts, and many other fundamental aspects of world relations. Although many political scientists argue that the concept is a hindrance to global governance, there is long-standing fear that moving away from absolute sovereignty invites chaos. This chapter argues that most societies in the past were built on divided sovereignty. Case studies of the early Iroquois, Indus Valley Civilization, and Gauls show very different kinds of political organizations with power variously divided by clans, time of year, and economic specialization. Although providing no quick fixes to global governance, the case studies demonstrate some of the ways that sovereignty can be broken up to deal more effectively with some of the world’s collective action problems.
