This article considers how we can develop a reflexive reading of the theological contours of global politics through Carl Schmitt's account of sovereignty. In doing this it seeks to generate a critical architecture to understand the pluralistic registers of sovereignty within world politics. This article examines the theological dimensions of sovereignty, calling for a closer reading of the theopolitical discourses of legality and legitimacy at work within the largely secular discipline of International Relations. Tracing the pluralistic dimensions of sovereignty – juristic, popular, and theopolitical – allows us to see how sovereignty is operationalised through a range of distinct political registers. When the study of sovereignty is confused with questions of preference for modes of governing (whether secular, religious, democratic, and/or juristic) the complex historical sociology of sovereignty is overlooked. Contemporary scholarship in International Relations can benefit from closer engagement with the multiple, overlapping registers of sovereignty in global politics. We may disagree with Schmitt's reading of sovereignty as ‘theopolitics’ but there is real methodological value in engaging secular scholarship in thinking about religion as a constitutive domain for global order – alongside a rich range of critical approaches.

中文翻译：

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论主权的神政治：卡尔施密特与全球秩序的神政治

本文考虑我们如何通过卡尔·施密特对主权的解释，对全球政治的神学轮廓进行反思性解读。在此过程中，它试图构建一个批判性架构，以理解世界政治中主权的多元化记录。本文考察了主权的神学维度，呼吁对主权的神政治话语进行更深入的解读。合法性和合法性在很大程度上是世俗的国际关系学科中工作。追溯主权的多元维度——法律的,受欢迎的， 和神政治的– 让我们看到主权是如何通过一系列不同的政治记录来运作的。当主权研究与治理模式（无论是世俗的、宗教的、民主的和/或法律的）偏好问题相混淆时，复杂的主权历史社会学就会被忽视。国际关系中的当代学术可以受益于与全球政治中多重、重叠的主权登记册的密切接触。我们可能不同意施密特将主权解读为“神政治”，但让世俗学术研究将宗教视为全球秩序的构成领域——以及丰富的批判性方法，具有真正的方法论价值。