Destituent: the concept formation between the practice of criticism and the criticism of practice

Abstract

This work seeks to explore the formation of the concept of “destituent” within political practice and philosophical criticism. Therefore, it identifies its emergence within the crisis of the concept of constituent power established in constitutional studies, in which it is treated as a mere question of principle of the legal order that, from a teleological perspective of history, is absorbed by the constituted power once consolidated the so-called democratic structures of the current rule of law. In this way, with the supposed intention of guaranteeing the permanence of fundamental rights and the stability of democratic institutions – especially after the totalitarian experiences that marked the last century – the inherent de-constituent dimension of the constituent power has been gradually silenced. However, this theoretical trend has faced serious challenges due to new social movements that have taken the streets in various parts of the world in recent decades, and it is precisely in this context that a new approach has taken shape, aiming to analyze this de-constituent dimension, and which we can gather under the label of “destituent thinking”.