What legitimizes the constitution of a sovereign state as the supreme authority? What happens when there are other, competing supremacy claims, like rulings by supranational courts whose authority is based on cosmopolitan principles? In his recent lecture "Cosmopolitan Legitimacy in Constitutional Democracy" at Boston College's Clough Center, WZB research professor Mattias Kumm discusses situations when there are other sources of legitimacy beyond the nation state (Lecture and discussion beginn at min. 9.17).
