| Summary: | Podemos is, by many, seen as the natural continuation of the Indignados movement. However, what happens when a movement transforms into a political party? Podemos’ intellectual figureheads have in this process been heavily influenced by the theories of Ernesto Laclau, and they have adopted his ideas on hegemony and political articulation. As of late, however, Podemos has also begun to employ the concept of sovereignty. In this article, I argue that the concept of sovereignty used by Podemos might carry unintended political implications. I demonstrate that Podemos use sovereignty in both national and popular versions, and I point to how this illustrates the inherent tensions between horizontality and verticality. However, if not sufficiently recognising these tensions, Podemos are risking association with claims not readily compatible with a radical politics. There are therefore two political implications: firstly, the use of sovereignty places more emphasis on verticality and leadership than on the popular base and, secondly, sovereignty has strong historical ties to a more reactionary electorate.
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