The Oxford Handbook of Constituent Power

Abstract This volume examines a key notion in political and constitutional theory. Constituent power denotes the capacity and authority to make (democratic) constitutions. The concept plays a key role both in real-world processes of constitution-making and constitutional transformation and in their scholarly analyses. The handbook brings together leading scholars across political theory, philosophy, intellectual history, and law to explore the political, constitutional, and normative relevance of the concept of constituent power. Covering its origins and history in Western and non-Western political thought and leading up to present authors, the volume investigates its conceptual neighbourhood, its applications to different types of polities (both intra-state and supra-state), its agents and practices of exercise, and its recent developments.