Wheatley, Natasha, (2023). The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty.

• Author: Knox, Allison G.S.

Wheatley, Natasha, (2023). The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Governance, as a concept, involves many different philosophical threads that many scholars work to understand better. This understanding impacts the future development and administration of policies--providing the foundational scaffolding of a nation. Nations are essentially mirrors of society's wants and desires. Thus, Natasha Wheatley's new book, The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty gives readers the opportunity to better understand the construction of states in the twentieth century: a pivotal time in European history.

Many European historians note that the nineteenth century was a particularly volatile time for Europe. Many also note the numerous social issues of the time that contributed to the volatility of the region ultimately leading to the outbreak of World War I. The academic literature also points to the political upheaval following World War I and its substantial contributions that gave way to World War II. More importantly, because of this political upheaval, numerous nation states emerged creating new government structures and new political alliances were forged. Wheatley's book. The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty focuses on the life cycle of states, and the various concepts that go into a government's constitutional structure. Wheatley constructs the book particularly well focusing on only one area of Europe to carefully review and analyze its life cycle.

Utilizing the Habsburg Empire as a case study, Wheatley isolates this region looking to understand more about the various political dynamics of the time, the influence of modern political thought and the changes in governance. Wheatley eloquently writes, "Together, these three strands--the Empire's constitutional challenges, its international dissolution, and the thinkers who grapple with both--reveal a hidden story about the relationship between sovereignty and time" (p. 5). Later, she states, "This book shows how order of thought evolved in dynamic tension with orders of rule, and why innovation and anachronism proved such intimate associates rather than each other's opposites," (p. 5).

Wheatley follows the construction of the European nation boundaries providing a fresh opportunity to understand the...