Between Either/Or and More or Less: Sovereignty Versus Autonomy Under Federalism

The concept of sovereignty arose with the appearance of themodern state. It has survived because the state has survivedas the seemingly necessary basis for political order. The persistenceof cultural and ethnic nationalism and international anarchyhas given the state a new lease on life. Countertendencies.includingareactionagainstthemonarchicalabsolutismassociatedwith sovereignty, have given rise to federal systemsoffering a more flexible, if less certain, combination of governmenton a large scale with relative autonomy on a smaller, localscale. Given modern realities promoting interdependence andmaking autarky both difficult to sustain and a threat to therights of minorities, it may be better to settle for the "moreor less" of federalism and autonomy than the "either/or" ofthe state and sovereignty.     

Real-time biopolitics: the actuary and the sentinel in global public health

Abstract

This paper analyses the mechanisms through which experts in the field of global health work to manage the future well-being of populations. It develops a contrast between two ways of approaching disease threats: actuarial and sentinel devices. If actuarial devices seek to map disease over time and across populations in order to gauge and mitigate risk, sentinel devices treat unprecedented diseases that cannot be mapped over time, but can only be anticipated and prepared for. The paper shows that a recent controversy over vaccination in Europe in response to the H1N1 pandemic can be understood in terms of the tension between these two kinds of security mechanisms.