Sovereignty & the State
From the divine right of kings to the UN era — the long argument over who holds supreme power and where it stops.
Each star is a thinker or work; solid lines draw the constellation of a school, dashed threads the passage of ideas between eras.
Select any point on the timeline to read about it.
All entries by era
Sovereignty & the State 1550 CE – 2030 CE
From the divine right of kings to the UN era — the long argument over who holds supreme power and where it stops.
- 1576 CE
Jean Bodin, Six Books of the Commonwealth. Writing amid France's religious wars, Bodin defines sovereignty as the 'absolute and perpetual power' of a commonwealth — supreme, indivisible, and above the positive law it makes. His concept gives the emerging state its central attribute and a vocabulary of unchallengeable authority.
- 1648 CE
Peace of Westphalia. The treaties ending the Thirty Years' War recognise rulers' authority over their own territory and religion, and non-interference by outsiders. Later theorists read Westphalia as the birth of the modern order of equal, territorially sovereign states — the frame of international politics ever since.
- 1651 CE
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. To escape the 'war of all against all', Hobbes has individuals covenant to surrender their natural rights to a single sovereign whose absolute power secures peace. The state becomes an 'artificial man', the Leviathan — a machine of order authorised by, yet standing above, the people.
- 1762 CE
Rousseau, The Social Contract. Rousseau relocates sovereignty from the ruler to the people themselves, whose general will alone can make legitimate law. Sovereignty becomes inalienable and indivisible in the nation, not the crown — the theoretical engine of the American and French revolutions.
- 1789 CE
Sieyès & the nation-state. In 'What Is the Third Estate?' Sieyès declares the nation the sole source of authority, prior to and above any constitution. The idea fuses sovereignty with nationhood, giving the nineteenth century its dominant political form: the sovereign nation-state.
- 1832 CE
John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence. Austin defines law as the command of a determinate sovereign, habitually obeyed and owing obedience to none. His command theory makes sovereignty the analytic foundation of law itself, though later positivists like Hart will challenge its picture of a single, unlimited commander.
- 1922 CE
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology. 'Sovereign is he who decides on the exception,' Schmitt writes, locating true power in the authority to suspend the law in an emergency. His provocative thesis exposes the limits of purely legal accounts and still haunts debates over emergency powers and the state of exception.
- 1933 CE
Montevideo Convention. The Montevideo Convention sets the classic legal criteria for a state: a permanent population, defined territory, government and capacity to enter relations with others. It codifies the sovereign state as the basic unit of international law and the equal member of its society.
- 1945 CE
The UN Charter. The Charter affirms the 'sovereign equality' of all members and non-interference in domestic affairs, yet also binds them to collective security and outlaws aggressive war. Sovereignty is reaffirmed and constrained at once, embedded in a web of mutual obligations.
- 2005 CE
Responsibility to Protect (R2P). At the World Summit, states endorse the principle that sovereignty entails a responsibility to protect populations from atrocity — and that this responsibility passes to the international community when a state fails. Sovereignty is recast from a shield into a conditional trust.
- 2016 CE
Globalisation & 'taking back control'. Supranational bodies, global markets, migration and the internet erode the neat Westphalian picture, prompting a backlash of sovereigntist and 'take back control' politics. The oldest modern question — where supreme authority truly lies — is fought over anew in an interdependent world.
The milestones
1576
Jean Bodin, Six Books of the Commonwealth
Sovereignty defined
Writing amid France's religious wars, Bodin defines sovereignty as the 'absolute and perpetual power' of a commonwealth — supreme, indivisible, and above the positive law it makes. His concept gives the emerging state its central attribute and a vocabulary of unchallengeable authority.
1648
Peace of Westphalia
The territorial state system
The treaties ending the Thirty Years' War recognise rulers' authority over their own territory and religion, and non-interference by outsiders. Later theorists read Westphalia as the birth of the modern order of equal, territorially sovereign states — the frame of international politics ever since.
1651
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
The sovereign as artificial person
To escape the 'war of all against all', Hobbes has individuals covenant to surrender their natural rights to a single sovereign whose absolute power secures peace. The state becomes an 'artificial man', the Leviathan — a machine of order authorised by, yet standing above, the people.
1762
Rousseau, The Social Contract
Popular sovereignty
Rousseau relocates sovereignty from the ruler to the people themselves, whose general will alone can make legitimate law. Sovereignty becomes inalienable and indivisible in the nation, not the crown — the theoretical engine of the American and French revolutions.
1789
Sieyès & the nation-state
The nation as sovereign
In 'What Is the Third Estate?' Sieyès declares the nation the sole source of authority, prior to and above any constitution. The idea fuses sovereignty with nationhood, giving the nineteenth century its dominant political form: the sovereign nation-state.
1832
John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence
Law as the sovereign's command
Austin defines law as the command of a determinate sovereign, habitually obeyed and owing obedience to none. His command theory makes sovereignty the analytic foundation of law itself, though later positivists like Hart will challenge its picture of a single, unlimited commander.
1922
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology
Sovereign is who decides the exception
'Sovereign is he who decides on the exception,' Schmitt writes, locating true power in the authority to suspend the law in an emergency. His provocative thesis exposes the limits of purely legal accounts and still haunts debates over emergency powers and the state of exception.
1933
Montevideo Convention
Defining statehood
The Montevideo Convention sets the classic legal criteria for a state: a permanent population, defined territory, government and capacity to enter relations with others. It codifies the sovereign state as the basic unit of international law and the equal member of its society.
1945
The UN Charter
Sovereign equality — with limits
The Charter affirms the 'sovereign equality' of all members and non-interference in domestic affairs, yet also binds them to collective security and outlaws aggressive war. Sovereignty is reaffirmed and constrained at once, embedded in a web of mutual obligations.
2005
Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Sovereignty as responsibility
At the World Summit, states endorse the principle that sovereignty entails a responsibility to protect populations from atrocity — and that this responsibility passes to the international community when a state fails. Sovereignty is recast from a shield into a conditional trust.
2016 →
Globalisation & 'taking back control'
The contested state
Supranational bodies, global markets, migration and the internet erode the neat Westphalian picture, prompting a backlash of sovereigntist and 'take back control' politics. The oldest modern question — where supreme authority truly lies — is fought over anew in an interdependent world.