ISBN:
9780192866585
Language:
English
Pages:
xiv, 245 Seiten
Edition:
First edition
Series Statement:
The history and theory of international law
DDC:
320.150954
Keywords:
Sovereignty History 18th century
;
Sovereignty History 19th century
;
Sovereignty History 20th century
;
Princes History
;
India Politics and government 1765-1947
;
Sovereignty
;
Sovereignty
;
International law
;
General & world history
;
Geschichte allgemein und Weltgeschichte
;
HISTORY / World
;
International law of territory & statehood
;
Internationales Öffentliches Recht: Territorium und Staatlichkeit
;
Internationales Öffentliches Recht: Verantwortlichkeit von Staaten und Körperschaften
;
LAW / International
;
LAW / Legal History
;
LAW / Public
;
Law & society
;
Legal history
;
Recht und Gesellschaft, Rechtssoziologie
;
Rechtsgeschichte
;
Responsibility of states & other entities
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General
;
India Politics and government 1765-1947
;
Indian sub-continent
;
Indischer Subkontinent
;
Südasien
;
Souveränität
;
Geschichte 1765-1947
Abstract:
Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia examines the role the doctrine of sovereignty played in debates over the legal status of the princely states of colonial South Asia, illustrating how different interpretations have shaped current understandings of international law and the modern Indian nation-state
Abstract:
Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia examines the role the doctrine of sovereignty played in debates over the legal status of the princely states of colonial South Asia, illustrating how different interpretations have shaped current understandings of international law and the modern Indian nation-state.This book examines the relationship between colonialism and international law by focusing on debates surrounding the legal status of the 'princely states' of colonial South Asia. The princely states were ruled by indigenous rulers and were not considered to be British territory. Instead, they remained subject to British influence exercised through political officers, resulting in enduring controversies over whether they were 'sovereign states'. This book traces how the language of sovereignty became the discourse for debating the legal status of the princely states and, in this way, mediated the exercise of political power in colonial South Asia. Focusing on the period between the mid-eighteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, it examines how international lawyers, British politicians, colonial officials, rulers and bureaucrats of princely states, and anticolonial nationalists continually redefined the concept of sovereignty. Assertions of sovereignty enabled these players to rely on the vocabulary of international law to resolve questions of legal status, the extent of rights, and the proper exercise of powers, and to construct a political order that was in line with their interests and aspirations. By invoking the vernacular of sovereignty in contrasting ways to support their differing visions of world order, these actors also attempted to reconfigure the boundaries among the spheres of the national, the imperial, and the international. Exploring the disputes and debates over the princely states is, therefore, key to understanding the history of sovereignty, the construction of the modern Indian nation-state, and the scope and stakes of international law itself.
Abstract:
"What constitutes a sovereign state in the international legal sphere? This question has been central to international law for centuries. Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia provides a compelling exploration of the history of sovereignty through an analysis of the jurisdictional politics involving a specific set of historical legal entities. Governed by local rulers, the princely states of colonial South Asia were subject to British paramountcy whilst remaining legally distinct from directly ruled British India. Their legal status and the extent of their rights remained the subject of feverish debates through the entirety of British colonial rule. This book traces the ways in which the language of sovereignty shaped the discourse surrounding the legal status of the princely states to illustrate how the doctrine of sovereignty came to structure political imagination in colonial South Asia and the framework of the modern Indian state. Opening with a survey of the place of the princely states in the colonial structures of South Asia, Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia goes on to illustrate how international lawyers, British politicians, colonial officials, rulers and bureaucrats of princely states, and anti-colonial nationalists in British India used definitions of sovereignty to construct political orders in line with their interests and aspirations. By invoking the vernacular of sovereignty in contrasting ways to support their differing visions of imperial and world order, these actors also attempted to reconfigure the boundaries among the spheres of the national, the imperial, and the international. Throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, debates and disputes over the princely states continually defined and redefined the concept of sovereignty and international legitimacy in South Asia. Using rich material from the colonial archives,Sovereignty, International Law, and the Princely States of Colonial South Asia conveys an understanding of the history of sovereignty and the construction of the modern Indian nation-state that is still relevant today. A riveting read, this book will be of considerable interest and importance to scholars of international law and South Asia, legal historians, and political scientists."--
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