ADRIANO CARVALHEIRO

This research project aims to investigate Hegel's concept of sovereignty through the analysis of the tripartition of powers (Gewaltenteilung) in the Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (Fundamental Principles of the Philosophy of Right) and the Vorlesungen über die Philosophie des Rechts (Lectures on the Philosophy of Right). In contrast to readings that tend to attribute sovereignty to just one of the three powers, the hypothesis raised is that sovereignty should be understood as a set of mediating processes between civil society and the political institutions of the state through which the people are constituted. The succession of Hegel's presentations of the tripartition of powers in this context offers a privileged field for analysis, as there seems to be a progressive clarification of the concept of sovereignty between the Grundlinien and the Vorlesungen. Therefore, the Vorlesungen über die Philosophie des Rechts in this research will be interrogated not merely as additions to the Grundlinien, nor as an ideological field of political opinions, but as valid objects of analysis for the genesis and development of the author's political concept.