Based on author's thesis (doctoral - University of Cambridge, 2017) issued under title: Constituent power and the modern state : a history of the theory and practice of popular power.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Languages of the revolution -- Constituent power and nineteenth century French politics -- Sovereignty as constituent power in the Weimar Republic -- Legal debates in Post War World II Europe -- Hannah Arendt on the power of the people.

"The modern state is built upon the principle that political power belongs to the people. Yet this principle has no uniform meaning. The very institutional structure of the modern state testifies to the plurality of understandings about the meaning, extent and implications of popular power. A quick look at modern European states reveals how each of their institutions is based upon a specific way of understanding and framing the power of the people. More strikingly, even within a single institution different conceptions of the people's power play out simultaneously. As an example, it may suffice to think about how different the principle of popular power looks when invoked to justify the role of legislative assemblies and that of constitutional courts. The first institution is considered the forum where popular concerns and interests are elaborated, compromised upon and transformed into law by representatives. The second, by contrast, is thought of as the ultimate guarantee of the respect of the people's founding will as expressed in the constitution against the legislative assembly. Both refer directly to the people as the ultimate source of authority, but they frame their power in very different ways. One is the power to make laws through representatives; the other is the power to trump laws made by representatives in the name of a higher expression of the people's will"--