democratic legitimation

The article is dedicated to the consideration of certain aspects of constitutional and legal
doctrine of national sovereignty, in particular the formation and development of such a
doctrine and its contemporary interpretation. The authors analyzed the views and ideas of a
number of thinkers who were of great importance in the formation of popular sovereignty
concept such as J.-J. Rousseau, B. Constant, A. Esmein, L. Duguit, Maurice Hauriou.
Modern tendencies in the development of national sovereignty doctrine are reviewed and

The article contains the analysis of the development history of the national sovereignty
doctrine and legitimacy of the government in France during the nineteenth century. It
indicates that the mentioned doctrine is significantly different from the one offered by Jean
Jacques Rousseau in the eighteenth century. It was based on the idea of natural human rights,
which are the main criteria for democratic legitimation, and the idea that legitimacy is not a
constant feature of public authority and therefore requires constant moral recognition within