The delicate balance between Carl Schmitt’s constituent power and liberal constitutionalism: a misunderstood and over-complicated dichotomy?
The tension between constituent power and a liberal theory of constitutionalism is important in constitutional theory as they paint very different perceptions of the nature of authority in a constitution. Constituent power is “the power through which the prince’s power to rule was authorised,”1 and its primary function is to “specify in constitutional language the ultimate