Reconceptualizing Sovereignty in the Post-National State: Statehood Attributes in the International Order: The Federal Tradition

l theory, which offers a different understanding of the concept of sovereignty. • The book discusses the European Union as a paradigmatic case of a ‘postmodern confederation’, which challenges the notion of sovereignty as an absolute and exclusive statehood attribute. • Furthermore, the reconceptualization of sovereignty in International Law should consider the rise of regional and functional legal orders, the different understandings of sovereignty offered by the federalist tradition and the processes of ‘deterritorialization’ and disaggregation of authority. • The book concludes with the idea that concept of sovereignty in International Law should be seen as a flexible concept which is not an exclusive attribute of the modern territorial state. This book is required reading for all interested in the history and the evolution of the concept of sovereignty.