This article defends state sovereignty as necessary for a form of popular sovereignty capable of realising the republican value of non-domination and argues it remains achievable and normatively warranted in an interconnected world. Many scholars, including certain republicans, contend that the external sovereignty of states can no longer be maintained or justified in such circumstances. Consequently, we must abandon the sovereignty of states and reconceive popular sovereignty on a different basis. Some argue sovereignty must be displaced upwards to a more global state, while others advocate it be vertically and horizontally dispersed to units below, across and above the state. Each group offers a related vision of the European Union to illustrate their proposals. Both these arguments are criticised as more likely to produce than reduce domination because neither can sustain a form of popular sovereignty capable of instantiating relations of non-domination. This article proposes the alternative of a republican association of sovereign states that allows sovereign states and their peoples to mutually regulate their external sovereignty in non-dominating ways. This alternative proposal provides a more plausible and defensible means for sustaining the requisite kind of popular sovereignty in contemporary conditions and a more appropriate vision of the European Union.
ArendtH (1958) The Origins of Totalitarianism, New ed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace.
2.
BellamyR (2003) Sovereignty, post-sovereignty and pre-sovereignty: Reconceptualising the state, rights and democracy in the EU. In: WalkerN (ed.) Sovereignty in Transition, Oxford: Hart, pp. 167–190.
3.
Bellamy R (2010) Democracy without Democracy?: Can the EU's Democratic ‘Outputs’ be Separated from the Democratic ‘Inputs’ Provided by Competitive Parties and Majority Rule? Journal of European Public Policy 17(1): 2–19.
4.
Bellamy R (2012) Rights as Democracy. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (CRISPP) 15(4): 449–471.
5.
BellamyR (2013) An ever closer union of peoples: Republican intergovernmentalism, demoi-cracy and representation in the EU. Journal of European Integration35(5): 499–516.
6.
BellamyRWealeA (2015) Political legitimacy and European monetary union: Contracts, constitutionalism and the normative logic of two-level games. Journal of European Public Policy22(2): 257–274.
7.
Besson S (2006) Deliberative demoi-cracy in the European Union. Towards the deterritorialization of democracy. In: Besson S and Martí JL (eds) Deliberative Democracy and Its Discontents. Aldershot: Ashgate, ch. 9.
8.
BohmanJ (2004a) Republican cosmopolitanism. Journal of Political Philosophy12(3): 336–352.
9.
BohmanJ (2004b) Constitution making and institutional innovation: The European Union and transnational governance. European Journal of Political Theory3: 315–337.
10.
BohmanJ (2005) From Demos to Demoi: Democracy across borders. Ratio Juris18(3): 293–314.
11.
BurgessM (2000) Federalism and the EU, London: Routledge.
12.
CaneyS (2005) Justice Beyond Borders, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
13.
ChevenalFSchimmelfennigF (2013) The case for demoicracy in the European union. Journal of Common Market Studies51(2): 334–350.
14.
ChristianoT (2008) The Constitution of Equality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
15.
ChristianoT (2010) Democratic legitimacy and international institutions. In: BessonSTasioulisJ (eds) The Philosophy of International Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 119–137.
16.
CohenJ (2012) Globalization and Sovereignty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.
DahlRA (1989) Democracy and Its Critics, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
18.
DahlRA (2001) How Democratic Is the American Constitution?, New Haven: Yale University Press. EB 83 Standard Eurobarometer Spring 2015.
19.
FlikschuhK (2010) Kant’s sovereignty dilemma: A contemporary analysis. Journal of Political Philosophy18(4): 469–493.
20.
ForsythM (1981) Unions of States, Leicester: Leicester University Press.
21.
HabermasJ (1998) The Inclusion of the Other, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
22.
HabermasJ (2012) The Crisis of the European Union: A Response, Cambridge: Polity Press.
23.
Hale T and Koenig-Archibugi M (2016) Are Europeans ready for a more democratic European union? New evidence on preference heterogeneity, polarisation and crosscuttingness. European Journal of Political Research. 55(2): 225–245.
24.
HamiltonAMadisonJJayJ (1778, 2003) The Federalist, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
25.
Held D (1995) Democracy and the Global Order: From the Modern State to Cosmopolitan Governance. Cambridge: Polity Press.
26.
HinsleyFH (1986) Sovereignty, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
27.
HixSMarshM (2011) Second-order effects plus pan-European political swings: An analysis of European parliament elections across time. Electoral Studies30: 4–15.
28.
Hobbes T (1651, 1996) The Leviathan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
29.
KalmoHSkinnerQ (2010) Sovereignty in Fragments, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
30.
Kant I (1797) The metaphysics of morals. In: Reiss H (ed.) Political Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
31.
KrögerSBellamyR (2016) Beyond a constraining dissensus: The role of national parliaments in domesticating and normalising the politicization of European integration. Comparative European Politics14(2): 131–153.
32.
Laborde C and Ronzoni M (2015) What is a free state? Republican internationalism and globalisation. Political Studies. Epub ahead of print. DOI: 10.111/1467-9248.12190.
33.
LadvasKChrissochoouD (2011) A Republic of Europeans: Civic Potential in a Liberal Milieu, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
34.
Lovett F (2010) A General Theory of Domination and Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35.
MacCormickN (1999) Questioning Sovereignty, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
36.
MalcolmN (1991) Sense on Sovereignty, London: Centre for Policy Studies.
37.
MartiJ (2010) A global republic to prevent global domination. Diacritica24(2): 31–72.
38.
MayK (1952) A set of independent, necessary and sufficient conditions for simple majority decision. Econometrica10: 680–684.
39.
MillerD (2008) Republicanism, national identity and Europe. In: LabordeCMaynorJ (eds) Republicanism and Political Theory, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 133–158.
40.
MillerD (2009) Democracy’s domain. Philosophy and Public Affairs37: 201–228.
41.
MilwardA (1993) The European Rescue of the Nation State, London: Routledge.
42.
MoravscikA (2002) In defence of the democratic deficit: Reassessing legitimacy in the EU. Journal of Common Market Studies40(40): 603–624.
43.
MorganG (2005) The Idea of a European Superstate, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
44.
PettitP (2010) A republican law of peoples. European Journal of Political Theory9(1): 70–94.
45.
PettitP (2012) On the People’s Terms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46.
PoggeT (1992) Cosmopolitanism and sovereignty. Ethics103: 48–75.
47.
Putnam RobertD (1988) Diplomacy and domestic politics: The logic of two-level games. International Organization42(3): 427–460.
48.
RawlsJ (1999) The Law of Peoples, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
49.
RipsteinA (2009) Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
50.
RokkanS (1974) Dimensions of state formation and nation building. In: TillyC (ed.) The Formation of National States in Western Europe, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
51.
RousseauJJ (1762, 1997) The Social Contract, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
52.
SassenS (1996) Losing Control?, New York: Columbia University Press.
53.
ScharpfFW (1998) The joint-decision trap. Public Administration66: 239–278.
54.
ScharpfFW (1999) Governing in Europe. Effective and Democratic, New York: Oxford University Press.
55.
SheehanJJ (2006) The problem of sovereignty in European history. American Historical Review111(1): 1–15.
56.
SkinnerQ (2010) The sovereign state: A genealogy. In: Kelmo H and Skinner Q (eds) Sovereignty in Fragments, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 26–46.
57.
SlaughterA-M (2004) Disaggregated sovereignty: Toward the public accountability of global governance networks. Government and Opposition39: 159–190.
58.
SlaughterA-M (2005) A New World Order, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
59.
StilzA (2009) Liberal Loyalty: Freedom, Obligation and the State, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
60.
ThompsonD (1999) Democratic theory and global society. Journal of Political Philosophy7(2): 111–125.
61.
TroperM (2010) The survival of sovereignty. In: Kelmo H and Skinner Q (eds) Sovereignty in Fragments, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 132–150.
62.
Weiler JHH (1998) Bread and Circus: The State of the European Union. Columbia Journal of European Law 4(2): 223–248.
63.
WeilerJJH (2001) Federalism without constitutionalism: Europe’s Sonderweg. In: NicolaidisKHowseR (eds) The Federal Vision, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
