Competing Sovereignties develops an account of sovereignty that comes to terms with the complex relationship between international, national and local claims to determine the content of law. This book provides a reconsideration of the concept of sovereignty in modernity. In an argument that is illustrated through an analysis of debates over the control of intellectual property law in India, Richard Joyce considers how economic globalization and the claims of indigenous communities do not just challenge national sovereignty - as if national sovereignty was the only kind of sovereignty - but in fact challenge our conception of what sovereignty 'is'. Combining theoretical research and reflection with an analysis of the legal, institutional and political context in which sovereignties 'compete', the book offers a critical reconception of modern sovereignty - and, with it, a new appreciation of the complex issues surrounding the relationship between international organisations, nation states and local and indigenous communities.