L'ombra della sovranità. Da Hobbes a Canetti e ritorno

"Sovereignty" has been one of the key concepts of political language since the early modern age and, often in improper contexts and derivations (such as “sovereignism"), it remains a vital subject today. Its meaning, however, has long been both vague and fragile, due to an epochal contradiction caused by a profound crisis: the end of authority’s highest legitimacy, i.e. the abandonment of medieval political theology. "Sovereignty" is a bridge built over the void of God's silence: it is a desperate effort to distinguish power from naked force, by anchoring it to a principle... in an anthropological context where the holder of authority is no longer any different from those under that authority, and the only real substance of power is consent. Today this effort is probably more desperate than ever. That’s why it is even more urgent that we make it, if we wish to preserve a (fragile) ethical barrier against a more brutal future.