Project
From the past to the future: A contemporary reflection on the temporal aspects of sovereignty in the philosophy of Benjamin Constant
There seems to be a gap between the commonsensical appreciation of sovereignty and its institutional reality. A sovereign people is supposed to have full legal and political power over itself, yet this collective sovereignty is most often institutionalized in the form of a constitutional and representative democracy. This means that legal and political power are constrained by binding constitutional rights and rules and that decisions are mostly made by representatives. This real situation of a solidly established constitutional order is the starting point of my reflection on what it means be a collective subject of sovereignty (e.g. “the Belgian people”). I believe our constitutional institutions offer this subject a perspective of itself that extends beyond the here and now, into the past and the future. This self-image gives “us” a certain continuity, and thus stability. 19th century French thinker Benjamin Constant was uniquely aware of this “temporality”. I will therefore use his work to reflect on the past, present and future aspects of sovereignty and I will confront it with contemporary criticism. For instance, Constant noted that the future “us” should be represented in our present decision-making process. Today, it is sometimes argued that direct citizen participation is the best way to do so, for instance in climate issues. I will apply this argumentation to the Belgian understanding of sovereignty that is considered to ban direct participation (e.g. referenda).