The recent upsurge of populism has prompted a wave of theoretical reflections on constitutional democracy. Echoing Max Weber’s sociology of legitimate authority, Bruce Ackerman’s Revolutionary Constitutions: Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law stands out from the crowd by providing an ambitious trichotomy of constitutional legitimacy – revolutionary, establishmentarian, and elitist –, with a focus on the revolutionary pathway. Engaging with Ackerman’s theoretical modelling of the relationship between constitutionalism and legitimate authority, I argue that the resurgence of We the People in populist rhetoric indicates the centrality of authenticity in constitutional democracy as constitutional authenticity is underpinned by the ethics of being true to the people’s originality. Yet, with the ethics of authenticity assuming its pathological form, the focus has been shifting from making sense of the constitution to the people’s self-identification with individual politicians. The latest wave of populism crystallizes anti-ethics of authenticity in our quest for lasting constitutional legitimacy.

中文翻译：

---

真实性：寻求持久宪法合法性的终极挑战†

近来民粹主义的高涨引发了一波对宪政民主的理论反思。与马克斯·韦伯的合法权威社会学相呼应，布鲁斯·阿克曼的革命宪法：魅力型领导和法治通过提供雄心勃勃的宪法合法性三分法——革命的、建制主义的和精英主义的——而脱颖而出，重点放在革命道路上。结合阿克曼关于宪政与合法权威之间关系的理论模型，我认为我们人民在民粹主义修辞中的复兴表明了宪政民主中真实性的中心地位，因为宪法真实性是由忠于人民原创性的伦理支撑的。然而，随着本真伦理学的病态形式，焦点已经从理解宪法转向人们对个别政治家的自我认同。最新的民粹主义浪潮在我们寻求持久的宪法合法性的过程中体现了对真实性的反伦理。