Diffuse Sovereignty in the Federalist Papers: A Schmittian Critique Presented at the American Political Science Association 2010 Annual Meeting Federalists and Critics Panel.

The article examines the various uses of the term, sovereignty, in the text of the Federalist Papers. The author looks into the various meanings of sovereignty as employed therein, such as Carl Schmitt's functional definition of the term. He demonstrates that the understandings of sovereignty was not primarily situated with the American people under the Constitution's framework. He also argues that textual sovereignty is problematic under Schmittian analysis.