Founders and Re-Founders:Struggles of Self-Authorized Representation

In this article my argument is twofold. First, I maintain that it is not possible to either understand or practically initiate democratic foundlings except through self-authorized claims of representation appealing to an extra-legal source of authority, that is, a prefigured people, constructed around a particular claim to what should be common. Second, I contend that self-authorized claims to a prefigured people that are performed to and retroactively validated by the existing people can open up opportunities for the people to self-constitute democratically.