Westphalia or Montevideo? Decolonizing the History of State Sovereignty

• In Event: Rethinking Space in World Politics: States, Sovereignty, Territoriality

Abstract

International relations scholars often use “Westphalia” as a metaphor for sovereignty in the contemporary global states system. The claim that the actual terms of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 are in any way related to the contemporary sovereign state has been repeatedly debunked, but the Westphalian metaphor persists. Putting the metaphorical point of origin of the sovereign state in central Europe more than a dozen generations ago has the rhetorical effect of suggesting that the modern states system is both fixed in its structure and rules and of a specific geographic origin. This paper argues that the Montevideo metaphor is much closer to the historical truth than Westphalia. Key cornerstones of the contemporary states system, such as sovereign equality, one country one vote, multilateralism, the idea that all people should have a state of citizenship, evolved over the course of the twentieth century, and were the result of demands by non-European countries as well as imposition by colonial powers. Looking at sovereignty this way emphasizes both the ongoing evolution of the international system and the agency of non-European political actors in this evolution.

Author

• Samuel J Barkin, University of Massachusetts Boston