The Metaphor of Sovereignty: Evolutions, Crisis, and New Perspectives

Sovereignty, in its many declinations, is a foundational concept of legal thought—longstandingly controversial and oscillating between alleged declines and renewed visions. The course explores its most recent transformations within the civil and religious spheres, through the lenses of legal philosophy and ecclesiastical and canon law, focusing on the relations between political authorities, religious powers, and legal orders. Starting from the classical narratives and theories of sovereignty, it examines contemporary dynamics with particular regard to normative pluralism and the roles assumed by supranational and confessional actors. The unifying aim of the course is to reflect critically on whether, in the face of present epochal changes, sovereignty is destined to dissolve or whether it can still represent a (normative and/or ideological) ordering factor of the legal world—and, if so, in what directions.