Beyond the Lines. Transformations of Sovereignty, Forms of Resistance and the Law of War

In the age of globalization the decline of sovereignty and the disappearance of the power of national States have been frequently announced. Against this background political philosophers and historians have argued that the concept of sovereignty and the history and limits of the “myth of the State” should be reconsidered critically (H. Kalmo, Q. Skinner, Sovereignty in fragments, Cambridge University Press, 2010). Recently political scientists have increasingly suggested that a monolithic concept of sovereignty is no longer able to grasp the challenges of the present situation (S. Mezzadra, B. Neilson, Border as Method, Duke University Press, 2012). The paper aims to contribute to the debate on State sovereignty from the perspective of the right to resist. Topics to be discussed include the following questions: What kind of relationship is supposed to exist between the bearer of sovereignty and the bearer of the right to resist? What concept of sovereignty is needed to think resistance? Does the right to resist weaken or reinforce sovereign power? If resistance is conceived as a right of war, where can we find the line separating the internal and domestic politics from the external/international domain?