This research stream understands sovereignty not as a prerogative of states, but as a contested and evolving concept, reclaimed by popular movements and social groups as a just and legitimate condition for a dignified existence. 

One of the key insights of the After Order project is that in many parts of the world, particularly in the periphery of the capitalist system — forms of popular sovereignty have  emerged in response to deep inequalities and state absence or neglect. More than reactions, these new forms of popular power are experiments in building  — and imagining —  new ways of organising collective life, governance and self-sufficiency. These approaches often combine novel ideas with very ancient forms of social organization.

We also approach the notion of popular sovereignty from a theoretical and internationalist perspective, exploring the concept of “peripherization”— the global dispersion of social and political conditions once restricted to the margins. From this perspective, the question of popular sovereignty gains renewed urgency: sovereignty must be rethought not only beyond the state, but also beyond the national sphere.