Unpopular sovereignties: Democracy and the paradox of "Peoples"

So-called démocratie states rest upon acts of violence and exclusion which cannot themselves be justified democratically. Yet, much contemporary political theory takes these configurations for granted as the context for philosophical reflection. This paper explores some of the spatio-temporal paradoxes of popular sovereignty as conventionally understood i. e., as the authorization of government through the consent of "the people." I argue that, instead of treating the borders of popular sovereignty as given, political philosophy would benefit from greater attention to their continual contestation and critique.