<p>The phenomenon of populism has been widely studied over the last decades from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. This paper proposes an interpretation of populism at the intersection of political and legal theory, viewing its emergence within contemporary constitutional democracies as a manifestation of the enduring tension generated by the idea of sovereignty, particularly popular sovereignty. The analysis begins with a conceptual reconstruction of the paradigm of sovereignty, focusing on the interplay between internal and external sovereignty in the context of globalization and its implications for democratic self-government. From this standpoint, the paper explores the dual constraints faced by popular sovereignty today: the external pressures of a globalized economy and the internal limitations imposed by liberal-constitutional frameworks. Rather than reducing populism only to an anti-constitutional impulse, the paper argues that constitutionalism can be reimagined not merely as a constraint on popular will, but as a framework through which it can be institutionalized and empowered. In this light, the populist claim is reframed as a call to renew democratic constitutionalism around the principle of popular sovereignty.</p>