POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY: WHAT IT CONSISTS OF AND HOW IT IS EXERCISED - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The popular s oberania is a political-legal concept that names a type of political system. Unlike what happens with national sovereignty, whose political power is based on an entity such as the nation, in popular sovereignty, power emanates directly from the people.

Both types of sovereignty were born in response to the old absolutist regime, in which authority was exercised by the king and was legitimized, almost always, by religion. It was Rousseau, along with other enlightened philosophers, who shaped this type of society.

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The way popular sovereignty is exercised is through suffrage. Thus, if the power of the state emanates from the people, they have the right to participate in their decisions. In modern democratic societies, suffrage is universal, but those who first adapted this legitimizing principle used to establish some limitations.

Despite this, popular sovereignty always tends to allow all individuals to participate. This is, possibly, the main difference with national sovereignty, which usually requires many conditions for the participation of the people in politics.

What is popular sovereignty?

Popular sovereignty is a principle that indicates that the people are the holder of sovereignty in a State. Thus, all the administrative and political structure of that State is organized based on the axiom that power emanates from the people.

This type of sovereignty appeared in opposition to national sovereignty. The latter was interpreted in a very restrictive way. It started from the basis that sovereignty resided in the nation, a concept of difficult definition that makes it easier to hinder the participation of individuals.

Popular sovereignty has important consequences when organizing the state. It is necessary to establish the pertinent mechanisms that allow the people to be the basis of state power. It is about the individuals who, jointly, form this people, can have decision-making power over the decisions made by the State.

The theorists of popular sovereignty hold that each citizen owns an aliquot part of sovereignty. The sum of that small part of sovereignty belonging to each person makes up the general will.

History

Already in 1576, Jean Bolin gave a definition of the concept "sovereignty". For the author, it was the "absolute and perpetual power of a Republic." On the other hand, sovereign was the one who had the power of decision, to promulgate laws without receiving them from anyone and without being subject to the decisions of others, except divine or natural law.

Almost a century later, this definition, which fitted into absolutism, was taken up by Thomas Hobbes. This eliminated from the concept of sovereignty any reference to natural law, leaving the sovereign as the only source of power.

Rousseau, in 1762, returned to treat the idea of ​​sovereignty. The approach that the French philosopher gave him was very different from the one he had until then. In his concept, power rested on the people, since he considered that one could live and survive in society without the need for a last leader.

Rousseau wrote that “… the power that governs society is the general will that looks out for the common good of all citizens…”. By extrapolating this to politics, the French gave the people the functions that the sovereign used to exercise alone.

Sovereign people

In Rousseau's work, the people as the holder of sovereignty should be made up of each citizen on an equal footing. Their decisions had to be carefully thought out, as they should not agree to anything that would harm the legitimate interests of each individual.

For Jean Jacques Rousseau the sovereign is the people, who emerges from the social pact, and as a body decrees the general will manifested in the law.

The work of the French philosopher is the first in which the theory of popular sovereignty appears. Thus, following his thinking, universal suffrage becomes a fundamental right. Likewise, popular sovereignty would not be possible without equality among all citizens, regardless of any other consideration.

On the other hand, the people cede part of their rights in favor of authority, endowing it with certain prerogatives decided by the whole of the citizenship. Each individual is, at the same time, citizen and subject, since he creates authority, but must also obey it.

How is it exercised?

As previously noted, popular sovereignty advocates an organization of the State that allows power to rest on popular consent. The people thus become the element that determines the actions of the State itself.

To achieve this, and contrary to what happens with sovereignties based on other principles, it is necessary to create a complex state apparatus.

In modern democracies, the majority has opted for the representative system. It is about the people electing, by universal suffrage, their representatives in the different organs of the State.

The most common bodies are the Parliament and the Senate. These are two chambers made up of elected representatives and which are assigned different legislative functions. Above them there is usually a judicial body that monitors that the laws are not contrary to the constitution of the country.

Some countries have preserved the monarchy, but deprived it of royal power. In practice, it is a symbolic position, with representative functions.

Suffrage

Popular sovereignty has historically been associated with suffrage. According to the theorists, without the participation of citizens through voting, it would not be possible to speak of a sovereignty emanating from the people.

In contrast to direct democracy, representative democracy through suffrage allows better management of those territories with a large population. Instead, care must be taken that the elected representatives do not stray from the popular will.

According to political scientists, popular sovereignty is not without limits. The people, although sovereign, cannot act outside the law, nor contradict the constitution in its decisions. If you want to make profound changes, you must do so following the established legal procedures.

Difference with national sovereignty

The so-called national sovereignty establishes that the holder of said sovereignty is the nation. This is usually defined as an indivisible and unique entity, different from the individuals that compose it.

This may, in practice, limit the right to vote. In many phases of history, certain groups have been prevented from voting on the grounds that their decisions would not correspond to the highest good of the nation.

A state based on national sovereignty does not, therefore, even have to be democratic. By placing the nation as the superior concept, authoritarian systems can emerge that claim that their actions only seek to favor it.

Against popular sovereignty

Popular sovereignty and national sovereignty are not, as has been pointed out, equivalent. In the first, power emanates from the people, while in the second, it emanates from the very concept of nation.

In this way, while in the popular the participation of all citizens, equal before the law, is mandatory, in the national this does not have to be the case.

The most common has been that in countries with national sovereignty, a census suffrage has been established, often based on economic income.

The first theorist of national sovereignty was Abbe Joseph Sieyés. Faced with Rousseau's thesis, Sieyés argued that rulers should base their decisions on the national good. They should not be carried away by the requests or wishes of the people, whom they considered illiterate and influential.

References

1. Legal Guides. Popular sovereignty. Obtained from guiasjuridicas.wolterskluwer.es
2. Kalyvas, Andreas. Popular sovereignty, democracy and the constituent power. Obtained from politicaygobierno.cide.edu
3. Smith, Augustin. State and democracy in the political thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Recovered from memoireonline.com
4. United States History. Popular Sovereignty. Retrieved from us-history.com
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Popular sovereignty. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. Kelly, Martin. Popular Sovereignty. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
7. Khan, Aliya. Popular Sovereignty. Retrieved from learningtogive.org
8. Legal Dictionary. Popular Sovereignty. Retrieved from legaldictionary.net