Is it time to abandon the theory of Democracy? The problem with the people: Afterword to the Foreword by Sergio Verdugo

Abstract

Abstract Sergio Verdugo’s provocative Foreword challenges us to think about whether the concepts we inherited from classical constitutionalism are still useful for understanding our current reality. Verdugo refutes any attempt to defend what he calls “the conventional approach to constituent power.” The objective of this article is to contradict Verdugo’s assertions which, the Foreword claims, are based on an incorrect notion of the people as a unified body, or as a social consensus. The article argues, instead, for the plausibility of defending the popular notion of constituent power by anchoring it in a historical and dynamic concept of democratic legitimacy. It concludes that, although legitimizing deviations from the established channels for political transformation entails risks, we must assume them for the sake of the emancipatory potential of constituent power.