People’s sovereignty – the fundamental principle of constitutionalism

Abstract

Purpose. The scientific article is devoted to the study of popular sovereignty as a fundamental principle of constitutionalism.Research methods. The methodological basis of the scientific article is a complex of general and special scientific methods of cognition. The author used the method of analysis and synthesis, the method of description and observation, modeling, formal-legal, axiomatic and logical-semantic methods of scientific knowledge.Results and conclusions. The idea of popular sovereignty has been the subject of scientific analysis by prominent philosophers, historians, political scientists and other researchers. The issue of direct people’s power in the context of the idea of popular sovereignty in a constitutional state is always relevant in view of the dynamics of the development of social relations and the evolution of democratic processes in the world. With the changes in the political-legal, socio-cultural and economic spectrum, there was a rapid wide-ranging breakthrough of scientific opinion regarding the understanding of the idea of democracy as a whole.It is emphasized that the essence of people’s sovereignty as the basic legal principle of the state’s existence consists in the expression of the will and interests of the people, the development of society within the limits of these interests in accordance with the current legislation. People’s authority in the political context is unified, it is exercised in the form of state power on behalf of the entire people or local government representing one or another territorial community, in accordance with their functional purpose.Emphasized, constitutionalism is not only a political and legal doctrine, an idea, but also a practice of application in the states of the world.It has been noted that the basis of constitutionalism in one or another state is always a certain constitutional ideology, which should be understood as fundamental (fundamental) principles, ideas, concepts, doctrines that arise and develop in tandem with the constitutional state.It has been established that the implementation of direct people’s power on a territorial basis can be carried out both within the boundaries of a separate administrative-territorial unit (a form of direct democracy at the local level) or the state as a whole (participation in the law-making process, national elections and referenda, etc.), and in the international arena. In the latter case, it is about the people’s ability to strive for self-determination, the formation of a separate independent state, and joining supranational organizations.