NN Ep:8 Functional Sovereignty: Can Network Nations Self-Govern Without Land?

New @greenpillnet pod out today! 🌐

In this episode of the Network Nations mini-series, host Primavera De Filippi speak with Morshed Mannan (European University Institute) and Neil Walker (author of Sovereignty in Transition) to explore one of the most challenging ideas in political theory today:
Functional Sovereignty.

They discuss whether sovereignty can be unbundled into separate functions like identity, finance, and dispute resolution — and what it means when digital communities begin exercising these powers without controlling land.
Together they examine historical precedents, overlapping authorities, private platform power (Amazon, Meta), self-determination, legitimacy, polycentric governance, and how decentralized infrastructure may enable network nations to achieve real autonomy.

A foundational conversation for understanding how communities can self-govern in the networked age.

🌱 greenpill.network
🌐 networknations.network
🐦 @owocki 
@greenpillnet 
https://x.com/MannanMorshed

Timestamps 

00:00 – Cold open: "Functional sovereignty is an oxymoron.
01:34 – What is functional sovereignty?
02:18 – Introducing guests: Morchette Mannan & Neil Walker
03:48 – Traditional sovereignty vs non-territorial sovereignty
06:14 – How communities govern identity, finance & dispute systems
07:20 – Unbundling sovereignty into multiple functions
08:25 – Historical evolution of sovereignty (dynastic → modern state)
10:50 – Early cracks: EU autonomy without exclusivity
13:09 – Examples of functional sovereignty (EU, monetary union, etc.)
16:42 – Guild socialism & industrial self-governance
18:20 – Decentralized constitutionalism in Yugoslavia
19:08 – Citizens as the sovereign, not territory
20:44 – Are Big Tech platforms (Amazon/Facebook) functional sovereigns?
23:24 – Digital proximity & affinity in network communities
25:29 – Declarative vs constitutive sovereignty
27:18 – Corporate sovereignty vs democratic sovereignty
29:33 – Power vs authority: who is the real sovereign?
31:58 – Sovereignty as a discursive claim
33:48 – Why Network Nations seek functional, not declarative, sovereignty
35:50 – Self-determination vs sovereignty
37:00 – The paradox of self-constitution
39:24 – How multiple sovereigns overlap (polycentricity)
41:34 – Managing conflict in overlapping jurisdictions
43:15 – Constitutions and polycentric coordination
45:21 – Who decides who decides?
47:42 – Multi-level governance & territorial scaffolding
49:36 – Functional domains: art, science, data, digital systems
51:38 – How functional sovereignty works in practice
53:22 – Cooperatives as real examples of mutual self-governance
55:43 – Cross-border recognition & legal frameworks
58:05 – What law can and cannot do in digital governance
01:00:06 – Why Network Nations require hybrid (digital + physical) presence
01:02:29 – Decentralized infrastructure as sovereign infrastructure
01:04:08 – Can network nations coexist peacefully with states?
01:06:20 – States' anxiety about digital communities
01:08:42 – Politics, culture & technological migration
01:10:00 – Closing