Popular sovereignty - Philosophical Concept | Alexandria
Popular sovereignty, at its core, is the enigmatic doctrine that political power resides in the people, but the precise nature of how this power is exercised and by whom remains a point of perpetual contention. Often styled as the "people's rule," it’s a concept brimming with paradoxes: Is it merely a shield against tyranny, or a blueprint for continuous revolution?
The seeds of popular sovereignty can be traced back to ancient philosophical thought, particularly in arguments for natural rights against monarchical divinely-ordained power, and in the writings of Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke in the late 17th century; centuries later, it would figure prominently in the American and French Revolutions. Its articulation wasn't always as the central dogma of "democracy," as we've come to understand it. The concept also emerges, albeit in different forms, in the history of the Roman Republic, when tribunes of the Plebs (ordinary citizens exercising political power) stood against the Senate. Figures like Thomas Jefferson, with his emphasis on the consent of the governed, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who championed the general will, acted as midwives in the birth of the modern vision of popular sovereignty.
Over time, the interpretation of popular sovereignty has undergone several metamorphoses. In the antebellum United States, it became intertwined with the explosive issue of slavery. The concept gained notoriety when politicians such as Stephen Douglas proposed that residents of new territories should decide for themselves whether to permit slavery. This attempt to navigate the explosive question divided the nation and ultimately failed to prevent the Civil War. Indeed, the Civil War marks a pivotal moment, for it led to a shift in how concepts like citizenship, rights, justice as fairness, and equality vs equity were perceived, fundamentally affecting the meaning and application of popular sovereignty. The idea evolved, intertwining with debates about voting rights, representation, and the limits of government authority within a framework of both political philosophy and a distinctly philosophical anthropology in ethics..
Today, popular sovereignty lives on not only in representative democracies around much of the world, but in many calls for social justice and political self determination. It continues to be a central principle in political argumentation. Some have begun to ask new questions of this old idea, wondering to what extent technology, particularly AI, has begun to undermine the role of the individual human agent. Thus, popular sovereignty remains a vibrant, contested principle, reminding us that while power may reside with the people, the struggle to define and wield that power is never truly over. Is true popular sovereignty achievable, or is it merely an ideal, forever just out of reach as a perpetual thought experiment?