The subject of this book is the social and political meaning of constitutional texts to the detriment of their legal concretization. Focusing on the discrepancy between the hypertrophically symbolic function of constitutions and their insufficient legal concretization, it offers a critical counterpoint to constitutional theory that treats constitutional texts as a panacea to solving political, legal, and social problems. In contrast to the premises of Niklas Luhmann's systems theory regarding law and constitution in world's society, symbolic constitutionalization is approached here in both a comprehensive and far-reaching perspective. Chapter 1 sets out the debate about symbolic legislation. Chapter 2 explains the notion of symbolic constitutionalization as a problem embracing the whole legal system. Chapter 3 approaches the issue in terms of allopoiesis of law, characterizing it primarily as a problem in peripheral modernity and referring to the Brazilian experience. The final chapter discusses the tendency to a symbolic constitutionalization of world society in the scope of a paradoxical peripheralization of the centre.

The subject of this book is the social and political meaning of constitutional texts to the detriment of their legal concretization. Focusing on the discrepancy between the hypertrophically symbolic function of constitutions and their insufficient legal concretization, it offers a critical counterpoint to constitutional theory that treats constitutional texts as a panacea to solving political, legal, and social problems. In contrast to the premises of Niklas Luhmann's systems theory regarding law and constitution in world's society, symbolic constitutionalization is approached here in both a comprehensive and far-reaching perspective. Chapter 1 sets out the debate about symbolic legislation. Chapter 2 explains the notion of symbolic constitutionalization as a problem embracing the whole legal system. Chapter 3 approaches the issue in terms of allopoiesis of law, characterizing it primarily as a problem in peripheral modernity and referring to the Brazilian experience. The final chapter discusses the tendency to a symbolic constitutionalization of world society in the scope of a paradoxical peripheralization of the centre.

Inspired by the works of Professor Marcelo Neves, in this book colleagues come together to explore how their research has been influenced by non-European and post-colonial approaches. With a foreword by Karl-Heinz Ladeur, it features essays written by leading scholars in the fields of sociology of law and constitutional theory – including Hauke Brunkhorst, Darío Rodrígues, Kimmo Nuotio and Pablo Holmes. The content is divided into four sections, the first of which, “Law, State, and Global Crisis,” covers topics related to the modern constitutional state, the crisis of global capitalism, and the global rule of law. The second, “Symbolic Constitutionalization,” analyzes challenges to constitutionalism in the “Peripheral Modernity.” The authors in the third section examine how the concept of “Transconstitutionalism” can shed new light on contemporary debates concerning global public law. In turn, the last section of the book, “Systems Theory and Public Law,” addresses systems theory issues in the fields of legal history and administrative law. The book presents a relevant and original discussion encompassing such diverse fields as constitutional theory, international law, systems theory, and sociology of constitutions.

The book examines one of the most debated issues in current international law: to what extent the international legal system has constitutional features comparable to what we find in national law. This question has become increasingly relevant in a time of globalization, where new international institutions and courts are established to address international issues. Constitutionalization beyond the nation state has for many years been discussed in relation to the European Union. This book asks whether we now see constitutionalization taking place also at the global level. The book investigates what should be characterized as constitutional features of the current international order, in what way the challenges differ from those at the national level and what could be a proper interaction between different international arrangements as well as between the international and national constitutional level. Finally, it sketches the outlines of what a constitutionalized world order could and should imply. The book is a critical appraisal of constitutionalist ideas and of their critique. It argues that the reconstruction of the current evolution of international law as a process of constitutionalization -against a background of, and partly in competition with, the verticalization of substantive law and the deformalization and fragmentation of international law- has some explanatory power, permits new insights and allows for new arguments. The book thus identifies constitutional trends and challenges in establishing international organisational structures, and designs procedures for standard-setting, implementation and judicial functions. This paperback edition features the authors' discussion of this book on the EJIL Talks blog.

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In modern political communities ultimate authority is often thought to reside with 'the people'. This book examines how constitutions act as a delegation of power from 'the people' to expert institutions, and looks at the attendant problems of maintaining the legitimacy of these constitutional arrangements.

This collection of essays to focuses on the critical issue of corruption that lies at the heart of the crisis of constitutionalism in Africa. Most anti-corruption measures over the years have been inadequate, serving merely as symbolic gestures to give the impression something is being done. The African Union's declaration of 2018 as the 'African anti-corruption year', belated though it be, is an open recognition by African governments of the impact corruption will have on the continent unless urgent steps are taken. The key objective of this volume is to draw attention to the problem of corruption, the complexity of the situation, with all its multi-faceted social, political, economic and legal dimensions, and the need for remedial action.