States Are Not People

Harold Laski on Unsettling Sovereignty, Rediscovering Democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID7972133
AuthorsJeanne Morefield (Whitman College, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume58
Issue4
Pages659-669
Publication date2005-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Research Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1065-9129 • E-ISSN: 1938-274X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/106591290505800413
OpenAlexW2059418702
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited11

This essay examines the relationship between democratic theory and historical critiques of state sovereignty by analyzing Harold Laski’s geneological approach to the history of political thought. This approach led Laski to conclude that the apparently “unified” character of soveriegn statehood made differences within states invisible, rendered similarities across states meaningless, obscured the liberal state’s connections to capitalism, and supported order and authority over the less predictable qualities of democratic freedom. Laski’s critique of sovereignty ultimately suggested that true democracy was impossible within the context of sovereingty and that real “international cooperation” could only happen under conditions in which individual states were prevented from speaking in the unified voice of their people. The esssay suggests that contemporary democratic theorists and international ethicists could have much to learn from Laski’s refusal to relegate democracy to the internal boundaries of states

Capitalism · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Economics · Law and economics · Order (exchange · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Popular sovereignty · Sociology · Sovereign state · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Critical Theory and Philosophy · History · Law · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics