At the Peripheries of the Empire
Since in the passage to Empire the external limits of sovereignty tend to disappear, the concept of war understood as the conflict between sovereign powers has little significance. Social conflicts of sovereignty tend instead to accumulate on the internal boundaries. These internal lines of division are what determine within sovereignty always and inevitably the possibility of civil war. In Empire civil war — along with the police action that works constantly to prevent its eruption — is the only adequate expression of the double-faced nature of sovereignty.
....Within globalization the very possibility of sovereignty can be destroyed by such a regime of desire. This desire is brought to the fore by the civil war that tears apart imperial domination. Whoever wants to travel the path of the liberation of the multitudes must take account of this terrific possibility that is offered by the transformations of sovereignty in imperial civil war. This is a project worthy of the multitude: transform the oppressive state of permanent war in which we find ourselves into a liberatory war that can eventually lead to a veritable social peace.
(excerpts from Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Sovereignty, Washington, 2001)