ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an analysis of the relations between political and legal sovereignty that provides the framework for an assessment of the transformation from sovereignty to post-sovereignty. Both have drawbacks and advantages, while sharing a fundamental incoherence. The chapter then outlines and defends the pre-sovereignty conception of the mixed constitution as the true alternative to a sovereignty based political system. It refers to developments within the European Union (EU) to illustrate aspects of the argument. The potential for a shift to a mixed sovereignty system is well illustrated by the EU. The chapter discusses both the theoretical coherence and the practical plausibility of the pre-sovereignty approach. Updated as a theory of 'mixed sovereignty', pre-sovereignty's division of sovereign power proves curiously suited to a world where conflicting claims to sovereignty abound. A pre-sovereignty system involves bringing together democracy and the rule of law in such a way that there is neither legal nor political —including popular —sovereignty.
