I have circumscribed in general theoretical terms the paradox of democratic legitimacy. The paradox is that the republican sovereign should undertake to bind its will by a series of precommitments to a set of formal and substantive norms, usually referred to as “human rights.” The rights and claims of others – be they “auxiliaries to the commonwealth,” as women, slaves, and propertyless males were considered to be, or be they subjugated peoples or foreigners – are then negotiated upon this terrain flanked by human rights on the one hand and sovereignty assertions on the other