The concept of the state and especially the concept of the sovereign state are the basic building blocks of International relations as an academic discipline. The collection is intended to redress this neglect and to stimulate wider debate about the meaning and function of these concepts in International relations.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• List of Contributors
• Introduction: The Concept of the State in International Relations - Peter M. R. Stirk
• 1. International Law and Statehood: A Performative View - Janis Grzybowski and Martti Koskenniemi
• 2. The State as a Universe of Discourse - Peter J. Steinberger
• 3. Sovereignty and the Personality of the State - Jens Bartelson
• 4. The State as Urban Myth: Governance without Government in the Global South - Oliver Jütersonke and Moncef Kartas
• 5. Decolonising Sovereignty: Globalisation and the Return of Hyper-Sovereignty - John M. Hobson
• 6. The Concept of the State as a Community of Liability - Peter M. R. Stirk
• 7. From Global Governance to Global Stateness - William E. Scheuerman
• 8. Open Societies, Cosmopolitanism and the Kelsenian State as a Safeguard against Nationalism - Robert Schuett