Today, sovereignty is a global system of authority which extends across all civilizational, linguistic, cultural, religious, ethnic and other types of communities that comprise humankind. The article follows the evolution of the concept of sovereignty, which has been one of the central concepts of political theory ever since Jean Bodin formulated it as an innovation designed to resolve the uncertainties and confusion which surrounded the issues of authority and law during the late middle ages. This very shift, which characterises the transition into modernity, is central to the article‘s endeavour. The author posits that it marks the point in time when sovereignty became the organizing principle of political reality and our understanding of it – a principle which divides political reality into exclusive domains that are mutually implied. The material basis of this transition consists of changes in the economy and the technological progress which, by the end of the long 16th century, enabled control over an increased amount of territory and the centralization of power. In this way, the state can be conceptualized as an entity capable of assimilating political and societal differences and antagonisms in one single form.
