This collaborative volume offers the first historical reconstruction of the concept of popular sovereignty. The collection, edited by Richard Bourke and Quentin Skinner, charts the history of the doctrine by bringing together leading international experts specialising across a range of periods, spanning ancient, medieval, early modern and modern political thought.

Introduction Richard Bourke; 1. Athenian democracy and popular tyranny Kinch Hoekstra; 2. Popular sovereignty as control of officeholders: Aristotle on Greek democracy Melissa Lane; 3. Popular sovereignty in the late Roman republic: Cicero and the will of the people Valentina Arena; 4. Popolo and law: late medieval sovereignty in Marsilius and the jurists Serena Ferente; 5. Democratic sovereignty and democratic government: the sleeping sovereign Richard Tuck; 6. Parliamentary sovereignty, popular sovereignty, and Henry Parker's adjudicative standpoint Alan Cromartie; 7. Popular sovereignty and representation in the English Civil War Lorenzo Sabbadini; 8. Prerogative, popular sovereignty, and the American founding Eric Nelson; 9. Popular sovereignty and political representation: Edmund Burke in the context of eighteenth-century thought Richard Bourke; 10. From popular sovereignty to civil society in post-revolutionary France Bryan Garsten; 11. Popular sovereignty as state theory in the nineteenth century Duncan Kelly; 12. Popular sovereignty and anticolonialism Karuna Mantena; 13. Popular sovereignty in an age of mass democracy: politics, parliament, and parties in Weber, Kelsen, Schmitt and beyond Timothy Stanton; Bibliography; Index.

'Popular sovereignty is the most fundamental, most widespread and least understood principle of political legitimacy in the world today. As the first comprehensive scholarly treatment of the subject over the longue duree, Popular Sovereignty in Historical Perspective will become a pivotal work in the history of political thought.' David Armitage, Harvard University, Massachusetts'Although the idea of popular sovereignty is central to modern political thought, its historical evolution and conceptual transformations have received little sustained scholarly attention. The erudite and insightful chapters in Popular Sovereignty in Historical Perspective trace its emergence and development across time and space, from the ancient Mediterranean world to the present, and from Europe to the United States and India. It is a major scholarly achievement, and is sure to become a standard reference point for those working on the topic in political theory, intellectual history, philosophy and law.' Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge'Can popular sovereignty be more than an ideology we impose on the people we call our fellow citizens - and the past? The essays in Richard Bourke and Quentin Skinner's collection all address this question. Some of the authors consider it soluble. They think that a people can be supreme, even though only a few ever rule ...' Ben Slingo, The Times Literary Supplement