International relations and the myth of sovereignty as equality: difference and the hierarchies of race and civilisation in the making of sovereignty

Xavier Mathieu

Chapter 22 in Research Handbook on the Law and Politics of Sovereignty, 2026, pp 407-423 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter deals with the concept of sovereignty in the discipline of International Relations (IR), offering a critical examination of its persistent ambiguities despite its foundational status. It argues that much of this confusion arises from IR's reluctance to confront sovereignty's function in organising “difference,” especially through racial and civilisational hierarchies. The discussion critiques constructivist and everyday practice approaches for maintaining this avoidance, thereby fostering the impression that sovereignty is either non-descriptive or exists in varying “degrees.” The chapter concludes that these ambiguities are reinforced by the enduring “myth of sovereignty as equality,” which obscures and legitimises the very inequalities – racial and civilisational – that sovereignty itself has historically produced and sustained.

Keywords: International Relations; Myth; Inequalities; Racial and civilisational hierarchies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781803926346
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781803926353.00033 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:21715_23

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().