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Article: Proclaiming sovereignty; Glenda Sluga reviews The Declaration of Independence: A Global History.(Book review)
- Article from:
- Harvard International Review
- Article date:
- March 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Harvard International Relations Council, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The most recent states to emerge on the world scene appeared just over a decade ago. Almost all of them, over 30 in total, were the practical and political consequences of the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. All of these countries gained their independence through formal declaration. How and when does this declarative process of establishing political sovereignty work? Given the cultural, linguistic, and civilizational differences that are said to shape our world, how did we arrive at a globally shared language of statehood? These are among the questions that Harvard historian David Armitage tackles in his appropriately global ...