Is it time to abandon the theory of constituent power?

Verdugo, Sergio

Publication:
Is it time to abandon the theory of constituent power?

dc.contributor.author	Verdugo, Sergio
dc.contributor.ror	https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
dc.date.accessioned	2025-04-07T10:15:14Z
dc.date.available	2025-04-07T10:15:14Z
dc.date.issued	2023-05-19
dc.description.abstract	A group of scholars has shown that the theory of constituent power—which seeks to describe and justify the dismantling of the constitutional order and its replacement with a new constitution—is flawed. The analytical tools the theory deploys fail to explain how constitution-making processes unfold. Also, the theory has been subject to normative challenges that question its democratic nature. However, the theory remains a mainstream idea in many countries, and some academics have attempted to defend its democratic nature. I claim that those attempts have rendered the theory meaningless or failed to address all of its problems. I then raise two objections. First, the constituent power theory cannot be used to justify most—if any— constitution making processes without an excessive idealization of the founding moment, but we are yet to understand the actual costs of that idealization. Second, redeemers of the theory need to decide whether constitution-making can operate under reasonably favorable electoral and democratic conditions or not. Ideal conditions are improbable when constitutional change is carried out in response to a crisis. In the unlikely case that these conditions can be met, using an idea of constitutional change as radical as the constituent power theory is not warranted from a normative perspective. I call this the dilemma of constituent power redemption.
dc.description.peerreviewed	yes
dc.description.status	Published
dc.format	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Verdugo, S. (2023). Is it time to abandon the theory of constituent power?. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 21(1), 14-79. https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moad033.
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/moad033
dc.identifier.issn	1474-2659
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3704
dc.issue.number	1
dc.journal.title	International Journal of Constitutional Law
dc.language.iso	en
dc.page.final	79
dc.page.initial	14
dc.page.total	66
dc.publisher	Oxford academic
dc.relation.department	Public Law & Global Governance
dc.relation.entity	IE University
dc.relation.school	IE Law School
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed
dc.title	Is it time to abandon the theory of constituent power?
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.version.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.volume.number	21
dspace.entity.type	Publication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication	e79f958a-556c-4764-a06f-5483c5604817
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	e79f958a-556c-4764-a06f-5483c5604817