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On the theopolitics of sovereignty: Carl Schmitt and the theopolitics of global orders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

Thomas Moore Open the ORCID record for Thomas Moore [Opens in a new window]
Thomas Moore*
Affiliation:
Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, London
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article considers how we can develop a reflexive reading of the theological contours of global politics through Carl Schmitt's account of sovereignty. In doing this it seeks to generate a critical architecture to understand the pluralistic registers of sovereignty within world politics. This article examines the theological dimensions of sovereignty, calling for a closer reading of the theopolitical discourses of legality and legitimacy at work within the largely secular discipline of International Relations. Tracing the pluralistic dimensions of sovereignty – juristic, popular, and theopolitical – allows us to see how sovereignty is operationalised through a range of distinct political registers. When the study of sovereignty is confused with questions of preference for modes of governing (whether secular, religious, democratic, and/or juristic) the complex historical sociology of sovereignty is overlooked. Contemporary scholarship in International Relations can benefit from closer engagement with the multiple, overlapping registers of sovereignty in global politics. We may disagree with Schmitt's reading of sovereignty as ‘theopolitics’ but there is real methodological value in engaging secular scholarship in thinking about religion as a constitutive domain for global order – alongside a rich range of critical approaches.

Keywords

SovereigntyTheologyCarl SchmittTheocracyReligionInternational Political Theory
Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 5 , December 2020 , pp. 691 - 712
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 2020

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