The Absent Sovereign and the Invisible Foundation: Political Liberalism’s Aporias in Theorizing Constituent Power
Philosophy & Social Criticism: An International, Interdisciplinary Journal
Published online on March 24, 2026
Abstract
Philosophy & Social Criticism, Ahead of Print.
How can constituent power be simultaneously constrained by law and genuinely democratic? This question has haunted constitutional theory since Sieyès distinguished constituent from constituted power. This article argues that political liberalism’s ...
How can constituent power be simultaneously constrained by law and genuinely democratic? This question has haunted constitutional theory since Sieyès distinguished constituent from constituted power. This article argues that political liberalism’s ...