BOOK LAUNCH | Sovereignty through Practice: Multiscalarity, Reflexivity, and Interdisciplinarity
Elia Bescotti (Regensburg), Jon-Wyatt Matlack (Berlin)
- Beginning:
- Tuesday, 27 May 2025 14:15
On 27 May 2025 we will welcome our alumni Jon W. Matlack and Elia Bescotti. They will present their first book “Sovereignty through Practice: Multiscalarity, Reflexivity, and Interdisciplinarity”, published by the renowned publishing house Routledge.
Abstract:
Among the various power structures that perform sovereignty, such as the head of state, a legislative body, or the military, one aspect is clear: the practice of sovereignty relies upon people at multiple levels - better portrayed as scales - of authority. This book focuses on actors – the people who bring sovereignty to life, who imbue it with meaning, and who are ultimately responsible for its practice. With that perspective, the volume interprets various case studies, such as Russian approaches to sovereignty in its leadership and Central Bank, Scottish parties' discourses, and NATO command structures. Beyond those contexts, the work also examines Chinese digital platforms, criminal gangs in Latin America, Polish and Czech nationalist movements, want-to-be states in Kurdistan-Iraq and Abkhazia, and Polish video games – together, these examples demonstrate how actors practise sovereignty in unity with, but also in place of, the state. As proof of concept, the authors further examine how they, as researchers, also qualify as practitioners of sovereignty. In a concluding three-chapter section, they reflexively explore how research methods and disciplines of study actively shape sovereignty and how the latter defines the outer limits of scholarly research.
Authors:
Elia Bescotti is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Leibniz ScienceCampus Regensburg working on critical approaches to deterrence. He holds a PhD in Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). His research includes works on sovereignty, secession, and recognition in the post-Soviet space. He is a DAAD and Wiener-Anspach Alumnus, former Recognised Student at the University of Oxford, and former doctoral associate at the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, University of Regensburg.
Jon-Wyatt Matlack is completing his PhD at the University of Regensburg, focusing on Western warfare in NATO training exercise of the U.S. Army and German Army in the Cold War. His publications and research encompass sovereignty, maritime strategy, military training, nationalism, and drone warfare. He is a researcher with the Leibniz ScienceCampus Regensburg, a member of Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, and the former Anthony D. Smith fellow at the London School of Economics
Cooperation:
Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World
Venue:
GS OSESUR, Landshuter Straße 4, 93047 Regensburg, room 017