Demos
Etymology
Greek "demos" meant the people or the citizen-body of a district. It builds "democracy," people-power, and "demagogue," people-leader, and shifts sense in "epidemic" and "pandemic," afflictions upon the people.
noun · /DEE-moss/
The common people of a community, considered as the body that holds political power.
What it names
"The people" not as a crowd but as the political unit a state claims to answer to.
Example
A referendum only works if there is a real demos — a public that sees itself as one people bound to accept the count.
Related idea
The people a demagogue flatters and democracy empowers; the same demos appears, medically, in pandemic.