The origins of this book can be traced back to a long, late-evening conversation with the late Il-Young Kim and Chulwoo Lee sometime in 2008. As the topic of our discussion shifted freely from history and culture to politics and law, we at one point asked ourselves who “We the People” – the putative authors of a democratic constitution – really are, especially in a context defined by strong ethnic nationalism. What would be a definition of the people that is both historically accurate and normatively attractive? That evening’s question proved to be the beginning of a long journey that has come to a close with the completion of this book. It was, however, not until we took our sabbatical leaves, both in 2009–2010, that we were able to embark on the project in earnest. Once settled in at the Harvard-Yenching Institute (HYI) and The Hague Institute for the Internationalization of Law (HiiL)/The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS), respectively, we started sharing ideas and drafts across the Atlantic. Upon returning to Seoul, we were ready to engage in serious writing, only to find our efforts hampered by our teaching, administrative, and other responsibilities. We found out the hard way that a sabbatical year is better used to finish a book project rather than to start one. It has thus taken many more years than we had anticipated before our reflections on that evening’s question finally coalesced into the book as it stands now. Along this long journey, we have incurred many debts.