What would Saccardo say about modern populism?
From my perspective, modern populism represents a distortion of popular sovereignty—the third stage I described. Populist movements often claim direct legitimacy from 'the people' while bypassing constitutional checks, which I would see as a regression to an unmediated, unstable form of sovereignty. In *Elementi di diritto pubblico*, I argued that popular sovereignty must be channeled through representative institutions and legal procedures to prevent tyranny of the majority. Populism's rejection of these structures risks undermining the historical progress toward balanced governance. I would advise studying its roots in economic and social dislocations, as my method requires, rather than dismissing it as mere irrationality. Only then can constitutional frameworks adapt to preserve stability.
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