Junior Faculty Fellow 1998-99
Daniel Philpott (Political Science)
University of California at Santa Barbara
Christian Social Thought and the Circumscription of
State Sovereignty
I will spend my year at the Erasmus Institute researching a book
on the erosion of sovereignty in international relations during
the twentieth century. I will be looking in particular at three
important "revolutions in sovereignty": the rise of minority
treaties in early twentieth century Europe, the founding of the
European Community after World War II, and the rise of humanitarian
intervention after the Cold War. Each revolution, I will argue,
can only be explained by a prior revolution in ideas about legitimate
authority, and not solely by economic, military, and technogical
factors. The research addresses issues at the heart of Catholic
social teaching, including subsidiarity, the "heresy"
of the absolutely sovereign state, and human rights. More broadly,
I will continue to pursue my interest in ethics and international
relations.
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