Abstract
In Cities and Sovereignty, Diane E. Davis and Nora Libertun de Duren have compiled a collection of essays examining the interaction between identity conflicts and their dynamics in relation to the larger struggles over sovereignty and governance. Cities have always been the host of diversity and multiculturalism. Since the onset of contemporary globalization, there has been an increase in heterogeneity in many urban centers around the world, accelerated by the rise of migration workers and globalized labor. This has created an environment ripe for ethnic and religious conflicts, fueled by the struggle for cultural recognition in the urban center. Even though cities have been identified with tolerance and diversity, most modern conflicts occur in these urban centers. This book, then, examines the dynamics of identity-based conflicts and national sovereignty, by employing comparative and historical case studies with each author providing their own disciplinary perspective.
Part One, Modes of Sovereignty, Urban Governance, and the City, addresses the impacts of sovereignty and to what extent the type of sovereignty arrangements (whether it be an empire, a colonial power, or a nation-state) conditions the effects of public governance and conflict. This part looks at cases in Jerusalem, India, and Vietnam.
Part Two, Scales of Sovereignty and the Remaking of Urban and National Space, considers the overlapping form of sovereignty and identity conflicts within the urban context. It also looks at how these tensions affect the urban form and the relationship between the city and the nation.
Part Three, Sovereignty, Representation, and the Urban Built Environment, looks at how sovereignty concerns manifest themselves within the urban context. The authors explore how the control of urban cities has become the object of national struggle within the nation state, where national and global actors seek to control the urban centers from sovereign powers as ways to model the general society after their own value systems.
This book offers valuable interdisciplinary perspectives on the nature of identity conflicts and governance, and their impacts upon the urban condition. This book is an insightful read for the urbanist, sociologist, political geographer, and historian alike—or anyone for that matter who is searching for a deeper understanding of the complexities of identities and their relations with networks of sovereignty.