'We the peoples': Balancing constituent power and constitutionalism in plurinational states

This chapter addresses the challenge to state authority from the perspective of sub-state nationalism. It develops the argument in relation to such ‘plurinational’ states as Belgium, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and asks how sub-national movements might find constitutional voice, whether such voice is likely to affirm or compromise their ‘constituent’ autonomy, and, more generally, whether and in what circumstances the relationship between the constituent potential of sub-state and state demoi might be conceived in either zero-sum or positive-sum terms.