Abstract

This article argues that recent attempts to domesticate the concept of constituent power by appeal to inherent liberal-democratic constraints on its exercise are untenable. The article first outlines the conceptual background and some of the underlying motivations for the inherent constraints thesis. It then critically examines two attempts to defend the inherent constraints thesis, by reference to liberal and democratic principles respectively. These attempts, I contend, rest on a conflation of strong and weak popular sovereignty and assumptions about political legitimacy that should be kept conceptually distinct from the theory of constituent power. Finally, the article argues that the inherent constraints thesis ultimately derives from a failure to attend to the ‘ideal’ or ‘central’ concept of the constitution. The conclusion to draw from these arguments is that while there may be some minimal constraints on constituent power, these will not be inherently liberal-democratic in nature.

中文翻译：

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构成权力的固有约束

摘要

本文认为，最近通过诉诸于固有的自由民主限制对其行使行使国内权力的概念的尝试是站不住脚的。本文首先概述了固有约束论的概念背景和一些潜在动机。然后，它分别参照自由主义和民主原则，批判性地考察了两种试图捍卫内在约束论的尝试。我主张，这些努力是建立在强权和弱势人民主权与政治合法性假设相结合的基础上的，这些假设在概念上应与构成权力理论相区别。最后，文章认为，固有的制约论点最终源于对宪法“理想”或“中央”概念的不重视。