Sovereignty, territory, and the legitimacy of the international order
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14748851211065131 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium on Shachar’s The Shifting Border |
Sovereignty, territory, and
the legitimacy of the
international order
Colleen Murphy
University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, IL, USA
Abstract
In The Shifting Border, Ayelet Shachar (2020) argues that the exercise of sovereign power
through border regimes no longer tracks territorial boundaries. In my commentary, I
first argue that Shachar’s analysis implicitly calls into question the legitimacy of the inter-
national order. I then raise the worry that the logic which severs the link between the
exercise of sovereignty and territory is the same logic that can be used to justify injustice
and atrocity such as ethnic cleansing. Shachar’s normative proposals do not sufficiently
recognize or guard against this risk.
Keywords
Sovereignty, territory, international order, Shachar, refugees
In her excellent book, The Shifting Border, Ayelet Shachar (2020) provides a descriptive
analysis of how the exercise of sovereignty through border regimes operates in the con-
temporary world. Borders operate functionally to keep out some and protect those within.
Shachar’s central claim is that the exercise of sovereign power through border regimes no
longer tracks territorial boundaries. Border control is exercised internally within a state’s
territorial land. Borders of one country also operate externally on the territory of other
countries. Shachar’s masterful book is rare in providing a conceptual framework for
making sense of important phenomena in the world that are familiar but have not been
sufficiently synthesized and conceptualized in ways that allow for systematic analysis
and critique. In my commentary, after providing a more detailed description of
Shachar’s main argument, I make one observation and draw out one implication of
Corresponding author:
Colleen Murphy, University of Illinois College of Law, 504 E Pennsylvania Ave, Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Email: colleenm@illinois.edu
Symposium on Shachar’sThe Shifting Border
European Journal of Political Theory
2022, Vol. 21(3) 608–614
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14748851211065131
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