Constituent Power Beyond the State

Geneviève Nootens is Full Professor of Political Science at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, QC, Canada. Her research interests are mainly concerned with the redeployment of democratic practices and the diffusion of sovereignty; majority and minority nationalism; and plurinational societies.

• Introduction 1. The concept of constituent power 2. Constituent power and the modern state 3. A reconfiguration of public authority? 4. Translating constituent power on a supranational or global scal 5. A post-constituent order? 6. Constituent power and "narratives of protest" 7. A new narrative of public authority?

"Constituent power remains a vital resource for popular politics today and yet it is often lost in an era of supranational legal institutions and transnational corporations, each of which leaves citizens feeling powerless. In this book Geneviève Nootens explains brilliantly how constituent power continues to underpin the legitimacy of political rule and offers insights into how the link between political citizenship and democratic authorisation must remain strong if new constitutional forms are to lay claim to any legitimacy. The book is an essential read for anyone interested in the political and economic changes transforming our world and of the risks we run in forsaking collective democratic agency as the vital mechanism through which to call new power structures to account."Stephen Tierney, Professor of Constitutional Theory, The University of Edinburgh