Sovereignty

souveraineté

Worked through in 9 videos · 11 passages.

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Summary

Dominique Pagani traces sovereignty back to Rousseau, who founded its modern concept and revealed to us that "power is us"1. He sees it as the essence of all democracy and the most progressive idea of the French Revolution2. In his view, there is no rule of law without sovereignty over a defined territory. He consistently distinguishes it from sovereigntism, a right-wing idea that defends the nation against the rest of the world and denies others what it claims for itself, for instance to the Vietnamese or the Algerians3. As early as 2017, he notes that the market left abandoned this notion of the social contract under federalist pressure, and that the Front National took it up. He applies the concept to current events: Ukraine, which an American forces to dismiss its prosecutor; the Sahel countries, which are moving from formal independence under IMF tutelage to real sovereignty4; and France, which he calls colonized since it rejoined the integrated command5.

Summary produced automatically from 12 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Cycle 14 · 28 Feb 2026Their “Europe” means war

38:23Sovereignty comes from Rousseau and is distinct from sovereignism, a right-wing idea. It is the most progressive idea of the French Revolution.

Cycle 14 · 4 Feb 2026The return of fascism

53:34Sovereignty, whose modern concept Rousseau founded, is distinct from sovereignism, which defends the nation against the rest of the world.

Cycle 12 · 14 Aug 2024Too late?

19:01The decision of war or peace cannot come from outside; reintegration into the integrated command makes France a colonized country.

Cycle 12 · 11 Jul 2024After the vote: entering a zone of turbulence

1:31:24He defends sovereignty for all peoples and condemns sovereignism, which reserves it for oneself and denies it to the Vietnamese or Algerians.

Cycle 12 · 24 Jun 2024For a “fresh and joyful” apocalypse?

1:54:29An irrefragable notion of the founders of the Republic; reclaiming it is national, not nationalist.

Cycle 12 · 1 Apr 2024The quest for the Grail, sanctimony or sacrilege?

16:55The countries of the Sahel move from formal independence, under the tutelage of the World Bank and the IMF, to real sovereignty.

Cycle 11 · 7 Aug 2023Niger special: should we “blacken the corpses”?

26:04Sovereignty is the essence of all democracy; he distinguishes his attachment to sovereignty from sovereigntism, and Rousseau founded its modern concept.
57:10Rousseau revealed to us our sovereignty: power is us.

Cycle 10 · 23 Jun 2022#15 Nietzsche: philosophical or musical relevance? Answers to questions

1:57:00There is no rule of law without sovereignty over a delimited territory; but sovereignty does not imply the sovereigntism of those who deny it to others.

Cycle 10 · 27 Jan 2022#8 Philosophising under threat

35:17Ukraine's sovereignty is measured by the fact that an American imposes on it the dismissal of its prosecutor.
58:38Decolonized peoples cannot be forbidden to choose their alliances and their defense policy.