What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to explore how state sovereignty impacts the governance structure of AI technology.

April 22, 2026Open Access

The Sovereignty Question: Who Governs the Governors?

Key Points

The aim is to explore how state sovereignty impacts the governance structure of AI technology.
Analysis of historical precedents, including IMF/Uzbekistan reforms and the NPT.
Examination of current disputes and crises related to AI governance.
Assessment of sovereign override implications on regulatory efforts.
Identified sovereign override as a fundamental limit in AI governance efforts.
Established that the window for sovereign conflict regarding AI is shorter than in past situations.
Highlighted significant examples illustrating the challenges faced in aligning AI governance with state sovereignty.

Abstract

Every enforcement architecture in AI governance meets one structural limit — the sovereign will of a state for which the technology has become an element of strategic autonomy. Drawing on the IMF/Uzbekistan reforms of the 1990s, the NPT and SWIFT precedents, the live Anthropic–Pentagon dispute, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, the October 2025 Chinese rare earth licensing cycle, and Uzbekistan's Resolution No. 109 of March 2026, this essay isolates the first structural limit on any attempt at correction: sovereign override, operating within a window shorter than any prior sovereign conflict. Essay 9 of the series Beyond Control: Theory of Limits of AI Governance by Oybek Khodjaev (INVEXI LLC, Tashkent, Uzbekistan). Full text: https://okhodjaev.com/essays/the-sovereignty-question/

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Oybek Khodjaev

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The Sovereignty Question: Who Governs the Governors?

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Abstract

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Authors

Actions

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References and Citations

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