Sovereignty in Conflict

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Sovereignty in Conflict: Political, Constitutional and Economic Dilemmas in the EU

   • Julia Rone, Nathalie Brack, Ramona Coman, Amandine Crespy

   Pages 1-22

3. Conflicting Sovereignties and the Sustainability of the Brexit State

   • Christopher Lord

   Pages 23-45

4. Procedural Battles on Sovereignty: Interpreting the Rules in the UK House of Commons

   • Edoardo Bressanelli

   Pages 47-66

5. Sovereignty and Democratic Legitimacy in Spain: The Case of Catalonia

   • Joan-Pau Rubiés

   Pages 67-94

6. Defending Sovereignty in the Name of Post-sovereignty: Liberal and “Illiberal” Constitutional Idioms in the EU

   • Hugo Canihac

   Pages 95-118

7. The Technocratic Populist Loop: Clashes Between Parliamentary and Popular Sovereignty in EU’s Eastern and Southern Periphery

   • Emilija Tudzarovska, Julia Rone

   Pages 119-142

8. Direct Democracy and the Impact of the Alternative for Germany (AfD)? “Populist” Demand for Popular Sovereignty as Latent Political Conflict

   • Manès Weisskircher

   Pages 143-164

9. National, Popular, or Neither? Sovereignty in the Rassemblement National’s Contestation of European Integration

   • Marta Lorimer

   Pages 165-182

10. Left-Wing Populism and Sovereignty: An Analysis of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Discourse (2011–2022)

    • Laura Chazel

    Pages 183-209

11. Sovereignty in Political Discourses of the European Populist Radical Right: The Right of the People and the Right of the Peoples

    • Alexander Alekseev

    Pages 211-243Open Access

12. Back Matter

    Pages 245-249

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This edited volume brings together leading international researchers in an attempt to disentangle and understand the multiple conflicts of sovereignty within the European polity in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. While most research on sovereignty focuses on its international dimensions, what makes this volume distinctive is the focus on the mobilization of sovereignty discourses in national politics. Contrary to tired paradigms studying clashes between national and supranational sovereignty, the various chapters of the volume offer a provocation for the readers – what if these old vertical conflicts of sovereignty are increasingly complemented by horizontal conflicts between executives and parliaments at both the national and international level?

• European Union Politics
• Politicization
• Sovereignty
• Parliaments
• Constitution
• Conflicts of Sovereignty
• Rule of Law

"This edited collection provides a valuable addition to the literature on conflicts of sovereignty in Europe. The elaboration and exemplification of different types of sovereignty conflict, foundational, institutional and territorial, is illuminating. The book will be read with interest by scholars from a variety of disciplines relating to Europe and the EU."

Paul Craig, Emeritus Professor of English Law, St John’s College, Cambridge University

"Politics has always been about allocation of power. As nation states struggle to perform their traditional functions, their authority is bound to be questioned. This book provides numerous insightful illustrations of sovereignty claims by a diverse set of actors, such as nationalist parties, irredentist movements, regions and the EU. In a multi-level polity such as the EU, which is based on the notion of shared sovereignty, conflicts can be very contentious; Brexit is a key manifestation of this. This book should be read by all students who wish to grasp the evolving nature of European politics." 

Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics, University of Oxford and Venice, Ca Foscari

• Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at CRASSH, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

  Julia Rone

• Cevipol & Institut d’études européennes, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

  Nathalie Brack, Ramona Coman, Amandine Crespy

Julia Rone is a postdoctoral researcher at the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at CRASSH, University of Cambridge, UK. Her research focuses on the dilemmas of digital sovereignty and the democratization of trade and tech governance. She is the author of Contesting Free Trade and Austerity in the EU: Protest Diffusion in Complex Media and Political Arenas (2021).

Nathalie Brack is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Belgium She recently authored Opposing Europe in the European Parliament. Rebels and Radicals in the Chamber (2018) and co-edits Theorising the Crises of the European Union (2020).

Ramona Coman is Professor in Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles and President of the Institute for European Studies, Belgium. She is the author of The Politics of the Rule of Law in theEU Polity: Actors, Tools and Challenges (2022) and the co-editor of Politics and Governance in the Post-Crisis European Union (2020).

Amandine Crespy is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium and Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Belgium. She recently authored The European Social Question. Tackling Key Controversies (2022) and co-edited Understanding Conflicts of Sovereignty in the EU (together with N. Brack and R. Coman, 2021).

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