Soberania Popular: Estudos sobre a ideia de um poder absoluto e intemporal

‘This book deals with sovereignty and the people, two central themes in the political thought of Modernity. Its relevance has been repeatedly questioned, especially that of sovereignty, considered by many, not long ago, to be an anachronism. However, given the upheavals we are currently witnessing in the geopolitical domain, such a conclusion appears, to say the least, hasty. We will, therefore, focus on what we believe to be the crucial point of the issue, namely, what makes the people and sovereignty two notions whose intelligibility is problematic. … We will analyse both sovereignty and the people, in the ambiguous relationship that both maintain with the notions of time and will, as well as the way in which this ambiguity, which is immanent to them, is reborn in each of their political configurations.’ (From the Introduction)

This volume brings together some of Diogo Pires Aurélio’s texts on one of the concepts that has concerned him the most over the last few decades: that of sovereignty, especially in the tension it generates with democracy as a place in which any justification of political power depends on the people as ultimate foundation. In times when the very idea of ​​sovereignty is called into question as it relates to state power, it is time to question whether popular sovereignty remains a theoretically consistent concept and a viable operator of organization and justification of policy in its extension into the indefinite future.

Diogo Pires Aurélio’s reflection on the temporality of popular sovereignty is part of his work under the research project “Present Democracy for Future Generations” (PTDC/FER-FIL/6088/2020), funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, and coordinated by André Santos Campos.