A (Really) Big Question: Which Is The Proper Political Subject?

- Presentation speakers
  - Carles José i Mestre, Department of Philosophy, University of Barcelona, Spain
Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to gain clarity (and charity) about the following controversy: Given the scenario in which a not misleading set of citizens of a territory of a sovereign state intends for the secession of the territory at stake, while the fundamental law of the state does not permit the unilateral democratic secession of any territory of the state, is it due the prominence of democracy or the prominence of law? We will analyse the intuitiveness of the possible scenarios to which the “democracy-based” arguments and the “law-based” arguments conduce us, from a presentation ad hoc of the very ideas of democracy and law themselves but also paying attention to the (big) question of the political subject, from the common assumption that both approaches should give an answer to it. In particular, we will try to see to what extent the current comprehension of two typical candidates to this role, nation and citizenship, fit separately the theoretical conclusions and practical implications of our previous analysis.