ABSTRACT
The power to make a constitution is the power to create a political order ex nihilo. Constitution making involves the idea of an authority and an author whose willpower is the ultimate cause of the polity. The foundation of a new polity requires more than just the superiority of the society over the bureaucratic sphere of the state. The concept of a constituent power invented by a theologian, is a famous example of what has been called political theology: The constituent power is the secularized version of the divine power to create the world ex nihilo, to create an order without being subject to it. The relationship between revolution and constitution is extremely ambivalent. For Abbe Sieyes there was no question that the constituent power of the sovereign nation could not be restricted, much less abolished by the constitution. The implementation of Sieyes's doctrine during the deliberations of the National Assembly required concessions to the necessities of practical life.
