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This paper outlines the features of a reconceptualised sovereignty. It offers an alternative to the view of sovereignty which has been pronounced dead, diminished or redundant. Two points in particular represent a contribution to the contemporary debate on sovereignty. First, the paper details the liberal character of orthodox state sovereignty. It identifies the correspondence between liberal principles and the features of state sovereignty and extends a critique of liberalism to those features. It then becomes possible to indicate the liberal basis of several intractable problems with state sovereignty. Second, the paper brings together aspects of the work of an important and heterogeneous group of writers, whose insights are employed to develop an alternative conceptualisation of sovereignty and to highlight some of the lacunae of the liberal conception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]