Reclaiming Constitutionalism: Democracy, Power and the State

by Maria Tzanakopoulou

Overview

Reclaiming Constitutionalism articulates an argument for why the constitutional phenomenon remains attached to the state - despite the recent advent of theories of global constitutionalism. Drawing from the idea that constitutionalism historically sought to build social consensus, this book argues that the primary aim of constitutionalism is to create social peace and to shield, rather than to limit, the power of political elites in any given state. Implicit in the effort to preserve social peace is the fundamentally important acknowledgement of social conflict. Constitutionalism seeks to offer a balance between opposing social forces. However, this balancing process can sometimes ignite, rather than appease, social conflict. Constitutionalism may thus further a project of social struggles and emancipation, for it incorporates within its very nucleus the potential for an agonistic version of democracy. In light of the connection between social conflict and constitutionalism, this book explores the conditions for and locations of the former. From the state and the EU to the global level, it considers the role of citizenship, national identities, democracy, power, and ideology, in order to conclude that the state is the only site that satisfies the prerequisites for social conflict. Reclaiming constitutionalism means building a discourse that opens up an emancipatory potential; a potential that, under current conditions, cannot be fulfilled beyond the borders of the state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509939626
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/25/2020
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Maria Tzanakopoulou is Teaching Fellow at King's College London Dickson Poon School of Law and at UCL Faculty of Laws.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction xi

Part I Constitutions and Constitutionalism: The Legal, the Political, the Citizen and the Status quo

Introduction of Part 1 3

1 The Roots of Law, the Roots of Constitutionalism 7

I The Foundation of Law: Politics and Social Conflict as Roots of the 'Legal' 7

A Politics Proper as a Perpetual Social Battle-Democracy as a Perpetual Social Battle 8

B Separating Law from Morality: Neo-Kantian, Positivist and Marxist Perspectives 12

i The Neo-Kantian Tradition 12

ii The Positivist Objection against the Link between Law and Morality 14

iii The Marxist Thesis 15

C Law as the Product of Social Conflict-Law as the Mediator of Social Conflict 17

II Constitutionalism in Modernity. The Social and Historical Juncture 18

A Instances of Pre-constitutional Thought 18

B The Enlightenment: Natural Rights, Popular Sovereignty and the Social Contract 21

C The French and American Revolutions: Launching into the Constitutionalism of Modernity 23

2 The Telos of Modern Constitutionalism 29

I Constitutionalism in Modernity 29

A What is the Constitution? 29

II Constitutionalism, Ideology and the Politics of Consensus 33

A Constitutionalism and the Politics of Consensus, Constitutionalism as the Politics of Consensus 33

B Constitutionalism and Citizenship, Citizenship and Democracy, Democracy and Consensus: An Alternative Understanding of Constituent Power and of Constitutionalism 36

C Constitutionalism and the Politics of Dissensus, Constitutionalism as the Politics of Dissensus: In Defence of the Constitution 39

Conclusion of Part I: The Question of the Nation State 45

Part II The Constitutional Failure of Europe: Citizenship, Democracy and Consensus

Introduction of Part II 49

3 The Dialectics of Citizenship: Europe as a Citizenship-Capable Entity 53

I The No-Demos Thesis 53

II The Nation, the State and Europe 54

A The National Project as Universal Project 56

B The Imperialistic Nature of National Universalism 58

III Citizenship and Community: Citizenship as a Dynamic Concept 59

IV Political Citizenship: Citizenship as a Dynamic Process 61

V Social Citizenship and Equality 63

A Citizenship and Equality 63

B Social Citizenship 64

4 What Kind of European Citizenship? 69

I European Citizenship in Practice 69

II The European Public Space 73

A The Individual Citizen 78

III Deliberative Europe 81

A A Note on the European Public Interest 84

B Comitology and the OMC 84

C Testing the Deliberative Model against the Public Interest 88

Conclusion of Part II: European Citizenship Revisited 93

Part III Global Governance: Discourse and Truth, Power and Resistance

Introduction of Part III 99

5 Global Governance as Discourse-Global Governance as Truth 103

I Truth and Discourse: An Invented Dilemma 103

A Discourses, Dominant Ideologies and Historically Organic Ideologies 105

II Global Governance Discourse 108

A Describing the Basic Precepts of Governance 108

B The Extension of Governance Rhetoric: Global Governance 111

C The Political Bias of Global Governance Discourse 115

i Global Governance as a Natural Development 119

6 Foucault and Power: Global Governance beyond Discourse 125

I Global Governance beyond Discourse: The Terms of the New Paradigm 125

II An Introduction to the Discussion on Power 126

III Foucault and the Function of Power 127

A Liberal and Neoliberal Governmentalities 130

B Global Governmentality: Global Governance as a Hegemonic Biopolitical Process 132

IV A Positive Reflection on Global Governance: The Example of the Problematics of Global Poverty 133

V The Possibility for Resistance at the Global Level 136

7 The Unviability of Global Citizenship: Looking into the Deeds of Global Civil Society 139

I Global Civil Society: Back to the Dialectics of Citizenship 139

A PPPs as a Technology of Government 142

B Due Process Rights as a Technology of Government 146

II The Prospects of Global Citizenship 149

A Global Contestatory Politics: Global Social Movements and the Prospects of Global Social Conflict 149

B New Old Constitutionalism, the Internationalised State and Global Democracy 152

C Global Contestatory Politics in the Absence of Internationalised Classes: Global Contestation, Local Contestation 155

Conclusion of Part III 159

Part IV The Foundation of Power: Bringing Constitutionalism back to the State

Introduction of Part IV 163

8 The Capitalist Mode of Production: The Economic Relation as the Primary Relation of the Nation State 167

I The Mode of Production in Marxist Thought 167

A The Historical Juncture and the Mode of Production as the Basis for Understanding Societies 167

B The Capitalist Mode of Production: An Economic, Political and Ideological Relation 168

C The Role of the National Element in the Capitalist Mode of Production 170

II The Detachment of the Capitalist Mode of Production from the Nation State: An Implausible Suggestion 172

A The Global/National Dilemma and its Relevance to Constitutionalism 172

B Ruling out the Existence of Global Collective Subjects 174

i The Notion of Social Capital: Back to the Indispensability of the National Element 176

9 State, Ideology and the Class Struggle 181

I State and the Economy: A Dialectical Relationship 181

II The Intervention of Ideological State Apparatuses in the Economic Relation 182

III The Foundation of Power: The State is Permeated by Class Struggle 186

IV Power as a Relation and State as its Primary Locus-the Role and Symbolisms of the National Constitution 190

Conclusion of Part IV: Revisiting State Constitutionalism 193

Conclusion: State, Power, Constitutionalism 199

Index 203

Editorial Reviews

"The book's contribution to constitutional debates is theoretically ambitious. It transverses Marxist and critical approaches to constitutionalism with EU law, and as such is recommended to everyone interested in European constitutionalism." --Common Market Law Review

"Maria Tzanakopoulou's book provides an original contribution to the discussion on the role of sovereign nation-states in a time of increasing extraterritorial challenges and the growing significance of non-state actors in world politics." --Journal of Common Market Studies

From the Publisher