Sovereignty inherently contradicts its protective mandate by holding power of death.

Evidence

According to social contract theories, men form political societies and set up a state for themselves primarily to preserve their lives. Nevertheless, the sovereign holds over them the power of death or life, by virtue of which he can expose their lives in war. The theoretical difficulty lies in the discrepancy between those two principles: the founding imperative to protect their lives and the overriding right to have them die. In consequence, sovereignty appears to be affected by a kind of multiple-personality disorder. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 557

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sets up the core conceptual tension (protective vs. warring sovereignty) that the whole chapter turns on.
• XREF: Grounds the reader’s interest in the principle of impunity in the foundational philosophical contradiction of the state. — connects to: Risk-free warfare erodes the legal principles justifying the right to kill in war. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 128; Enforced covenants require a sovereign power to prevent collapse into war — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2023; Subtler punishment masked sovereign power rather than making it more humane (+3 more)

Related

• Sovereign power makes the subject’s very life and death depend on its will (similarity 0.83)
• War exercises sovereignty through the right to kill. (similarity 0.82)
• War’s protection reversal exposes domination as the hidden core of sovereignty. (similarity 0.81)
• War-waging sovereignty historically treated subjects as owned livestock that sovereigns may slaughter. (similarity 0.81)
• Mortality blocks property from becoming a true political principle. (similarity 0.80)
• Sovereign power over life is asymmetrical, always weighted toward killing (similarity 0.80)
• The sovereign’s exposure of subjects’ lives becomes the basis for limiting its war power (similarity 0.79)
• The armed drone resolves a centuries-old tension in political sovereignty. (similarity 0.79)
• War reverses the protection-obedience relation so subjects protect the sovereign. (similarity 0.79)
• Enforced covenants require a sovereign power to prevent collapse into war (similarity 0.79)
• Kant reverses the protector’s command into a citizen’s claim over the sovereign. (similarity 0.79)
• The drone reconciles liberal security statehood with unrestricted waging of war. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Subtler punishment masked sovereign power rather than making it more humane #exemplifies (0.70)
• Risk-free warfare erodes the legal principles justifying the right to kill in war. #responds-to (0.65) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 128
• Enforced covenants require a sovereign power to prevent collapse into war #complicates (0.60) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2023