Sovereign Encounters

Description

Nowadays, the concept of sovereignty is at best seen as outdated and, at worst, as a key component of the political rhetoric of authoritarian regimes.

In this inaugural lecture, Professor Joel Colón-Ríos will argue that the concept of sovereignty is nonetheless crucial to understanding one of the main questions of constitutional theory: how can constitutions serve as instruments of popular self-rule, allowing a community to govern itself anyway it wants and, at the same time, function as mechanisms for the limitation of political power?

Through the lecture, Professor Colón-Ríos will reflect on the different ‘encounters’ with the concept of sovereignty through his academic work.