In a connected world, the nation state is increasingly redefined, both from the inside and outside. New forms and bodies of sovereignty emerge and older forms are reconfigured. Sovereignty and Social Contestation (SoSCo) wants to investigate the cultural, political, and religious registers that sovereign bodies employ to construct, negotiate or contest a social order. SoSCo sees sovereignty as a form of power that is continuously constructed, negotiated and contested. We advance theory about sovereignty as the power to govern the self and others, as the ability to discipline and punish, and as the authority to decide who is included and excluded from a community.
The nation-state can no longer be considered the privileged locus of sovereignty. We need a fresh understanding of the nature of sovereignty and its configurations within and beyond national borders.
