God’s Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes and Multidimensionality

Following a series of scholarly engagements on territorial disputes and sovereignty, and the many successful Juris North roundtable events, we are pleased to announce the theme of our IVR 2026 Special Workshop: God’s Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes and Multidimensionality. This workshop is led by Dr Jorge E. Núñez (Manchester Law School).

This workshop invites contributions that explore how religious conceptions of divine sovereignty shape both peacebuilding and conflict in the context of territorial disputes. We welcome works-in-progress that engage with the interplay between faith-based, legal, political and normative systems, especially in regions marked by sovereignty conflicts.

A central theme is internormativity—the interaction between legal and non-legal normative systems (such as religion, culture, and ethics)—as a lens to understand how divine authority is invoked in territorial claims and peacebuilding efforts.

We invite participants to present works-in-progress that engage with the complex interplay of legal, political, and normative systems in a globalized world. Papers may approach the theme from doctrinal, theoretical, or interdisciplinary perspectives.

Aims

• To examine how God’s sovereigntyis interpreted across religious traditions and how these interpretations influence territorial claims and peace efforts.
• To explore the multidimensional and internormative natureof sovereignty conflicts, integrating rational (legal, political) and non-rational (faith-based, emotional)
• To assess the role of religious actors, doctrines, and narrativesin either escalating or mitigating territorial disputes.
• To foster cross-disciplinary dialogueon the normative, spiritual, and geopolitical dimensions of sovereignty.

Led by:

Dr Jorge E. Núñez, Manchester Law School

Theme:

The workshop builds on the premise that religion is neither inherently peaceful nor conflictual—its impact depends on context, interpretation, and leadership. By focusing on God’s sovereignty, we aim to uncover how divine authority is invoked to sanctify land, justify exclusion, or promote reconciliation.

We are particularly interested in how Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism conceptualize divine rule and how these conceptions influence real-world disputes such as:

• Israel–Palestine
• Kashmir
• Northern Ireland
• Cyprus
• South China Sea

These cases will be examined through an internormative and multidimensional lens, recognizing how religious, legal, and cultural norms intersect in shaping conflict and cooperation.

Multidimensionality Explained

Multidimensionality acknowledges phenomena as a pluralism of pluralisms, encompassing diverse agents—individuals, communities and states—who play different roles across domestic, regional and international contexts. These roles can be understood factually, normatively and axiologically, and through their different modes of existence, including the metaphysical.

This framework allows for both traditional scholarly exploration (e.g. vertical and horizontal relationships) and non-traditional, uncharted perspectives, such as self-referred or chaotic dynamics. It is particularly suited to analyzing sovereignty conflicts where internormative tensions—between law, faith, ethics, and identity—are deeply entangled.

Guiding Questions

• How do different religious traditions interpret God’s sovereignty, and how do these interpretations influence territorial claims?
• In what ways do religious teachings and leaderscontribute to peacebuilding or conflict escalation?
• How can faith-based virtueslike forgiveness, justice, and compassion be mobilized to resolve sovereignty conflicts?
• How does internormativityhelp us understand the coexistence and contestation of legal and non-legal norms in territorial disputes?
• What insights does multidimensionalityoffer for rethinking sovereignty beyond state-centric paradigms?

Participants: 

Open to all. We encourage participation from scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students across disciplines, geographies, and identities. The workshop aims to be inclusive, collaborative, and exploratory.

Format:

This special workshop is designed to showcase and develop works-in-progress rather than completed papers. We welcome exploratory ideas, theoretical models, and case-based reflections.

Participation:

If you are interested in sending an abstract (up to 500 words) for consideration or simply taking part in our roundtables, please send your email to j.nunez@mmu.ac.uk  by Friday 27^th March 2026.

The e-mail accompanying your abstract should also contain the following information:

• Subject line: “SW God’s Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes and Multidimensionality.”
• Name
• Institutional affiliation (if any).SW07: IVR 2026 Special Workshop 07: God’s Sovereignty, Territorial Disputes and Multidimensionality
  1. Antonov Mikhail, Professor of Legal Theory at Law Faculty, Higher School of Economics, Saint Petersburg (Russia)

  Religious legitimation of sovereignty in territorial claims

  2. Simeon Groysman, Sofia University “St.Kliment Ohridski”

  Sovereignty and ecclesiastical autocephaly in the political-legal context of the orthodox Christian world

  3. Reut Yael Paz, Viadrina, the European University, Frankfurt Oder, Germany and Alberto Puppo, ITAM, School of Law, Mexico City, Mexico

  With or Without You? God’s Sovereignty and (de)Romanticisation of Land

   

  Further details and updated at https://DrJorge.World