Functional Sovereignty: A Structural Theory of Authority in Global Order
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Sovereignty in contemporary global order is commonly treated as a territorially fixed and uniformly distributed attribute of states (Bodin, 1576; Hobbes, 1651). Yet empirical realities across the Global South reveal fragmented, outsourced, and externally conditioned authority that territorial models cannot explain (Acharya, 2014; Grovogui, 1996). This article develops Functional Sovereignty, a structural theory that reframes sovereignty as the distribution of six governing functions — coercive, regulatory, extractive, adjudicative, welfare, and informational — across states and non-state actors. The theory begins from the observation that “the central question is not only which actor possesses territory, but which actor performs sovereign functions.” Functional Sovereignty specifies three mechanisms — functional displacement, functional concentration, and functional fragmentation — through which sovereign functions migrate and global inequality is reproduced (Strange, 1988; Sassen, 2019). It integrates insights from global governance (Barnett & Duvall, 2005; Avant et al., 2010), structural IPE (Farrell & Newman, 2019), international law (Anghie, 2005; Chimni, 2006), and postcolonial IR (Tickner, 2013) into a unified analytical model that explains why formal independence does not guarantee functional autonomy and why hybrid governance systems emerge in contexts of structural hierarchy. Empirically, the article demonstrates the theory’s relevance through case studies from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Haiti, and Lebanon, showing how variation in functional sovereignty predicts variation in state behaviour and governance outcomes. Comparative extensions from Rwanda and Estonia illustrate how functional consolidation can occur under specific structural conditions. By treating sovereignty as a measurable distribution of governing capacities rather than a territorial status, Functional Sovereignty provides new analytical leverage for explaining authority, dependency, and inequality in global order.