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Sovereignty, War, and the Global State

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Dylan Craig

    1. School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC, USA

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  • Examines how changes in the rules and practices by which states project power into space have produced changes in warfare both now and in the past

  • Contributes to a new round in the debate about how best to conceive of the practice and principles of sovereignty

  • Demonstrates continuities between old wars and new; for example, between the wars of 15th century imperial sovereigns and the use of contractors in Iraq today

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Intellectual Context

    • Dylan Craig
    Pages 1-24

  3. Interstice Openers

    • Dylan Craig
    Pages 25-58

  4. Interstice Exploiters

    • Dylan Craig
    Pages 59-86

  5. Interstice Closers

    • Dylan Craig
    Pages 87-116

  6. Exceptions, Exclusions, and Discussion

    • Dylan Craig
    Pages 117-135

  7. The Dynamic Sovereign Order

    • Dylan Craig
    Pages 137-151

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 153-169
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Keywords

About this book

This book highlights the existence of a class of struggles conducted in the gray zones of formalized war, or more aptly in the interstices where state power and jurisdiction are mismatched. These “sovereign interstices” are inextricable from the negative spaces of the great war-regulating sovereign orders, but they are also characterized by recurring characteristics among the fighters who are recruited to fight proxy wars within them. States have changed greatly in the last four hundred years, but interstitial fighters have changed far less, and the same can be said of the recurring styles in which their powerful patrons employ them to go where those patrons cannot. By charting these continuities, the author shows how a deeper awareness of interstitial war not only clarifies much concerning our contemporary world at war, but also provides a clear path forward in legal, military, and scholarly terms.

Reviews

“Dylan Craig’s Sovereignty, War and the Global State provides an in-depth study of the complex nature of warfare in intervening geographic spaces where formal state sovereignty and actual state power are misaligned. Through a series of case studies spanning seven centuries, Craig advances the theory of ‘interstitial war.’ As many of the world’s most dangerous security challenges emanate from these interstices, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the study of war.” (Edward R. Lucas, Assistant Professor of Military and Strategic Studies, United States Air Force Academy, USA)

“In this great contribution to the de-territorialisation of politics and warfare debate, Dylan Craig introduces the concept of interstitial war. The book points out the important historical continuities in the incongruence between war and territorial sovereignty claims and invites us to rethink presumed discontinuities in regards to the actors involved. Thought-provoking!” (Isabelle Duyvesteyn, Professor of International Studies/ Global History, Institute of History Leiden University, the Netherlands)

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Dylan Craig

About the author

Dylan Craig is Senior Professorial Lecturer of International Relations in the School of International Service, American University, USA. Before joining the SIS community in 2004, he taught colonial and Cold War history at Rhodes University in South Africa.

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