Reflecting on the collective monograph entitled (in the English translation): “Asymmetry of the World System of Sovereignty: Zones of Problematic Statehood”, just issued by the MGIMO-University (ed. by M.V.Ilyin, I.V.Kudryashova), the author of the present article analyzes political scientists’ conceptual approaches to investigation of the phenomenon of problematic statehood in the epoch of globalization, retraces the structure and logic of the monographic study. In the author’s opinion, the collective work by leading Russian political scientists (who are noted, in particular, for mastering comparativist aspects of the subject) goes beyond the limits of habitual politico-legal analysis of national (state) sovereignty (that used to be traditional for Russia) and forms a new field for the appearance of explanatory models of problematic statehood.