Constituent Power and the Demos: Problems of Secession and Disintegration

Abstract

Debates about the boundary problem often treat the categories ‘demos’ and ‘constituent power’ as synonymous, thus neglecting the important distinction between ordinary and higher lawmaking. Recently, however, separatist movements (e.g. Catalonia, Scotland) and the partial disintegration of the European Union (i.e. Brexit) alert us to the complex relationship between the two. Democratic theory is hard pressed to answer the question of who is entitled to split up political communities and bring about new ones. This panel seeks to contribute to a more systematic understanding of the relationship between constituent power and the demos – on a conceptual level and through the analysis of issues of secession and disintegration: Under what conditions, if at all, can sub-state groups make a legitimate claim to constituent power? Can secession be described and justified as an act of constituent power? Does constituent power explicate the right to withdraw from a supranational polity?