Self-Constitution of European Society

Recent social and political developments in the EU have clearly shown the profound structural changes in European society and its politics. Reflecting on these developments and responding to the existing body of academic literature and scholarship, this book critically discusses the emerging notion of European constitutionalism, its varieties and different contextualization in theories of EU law, general jurisprudence, sociology of law, political theory and sociology. The contributors address different problems related to the relationship between the constitutional state and non-state constitutionalizations and critically analyze general theories of constitutional monism, dualism and pluralism and their juridical and political uses in the context of EU constitutionalism. Individual chapters emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary and socio-legal methods in the current research of EU constitutionalism and their potential to re-conceptualize and re-think traditional problems of constitutional subjects, limitation and separation of power, political symbolism and identity politics in Europe. This collection simultaneously describes the EU and its self-constitution as one polity, differentiated society and shared community and its contributors conceptualize the sense of common identity and solidarity in the context of the post-sovereign multitude of European society.

Jirí Pribán is Professor of Law at the School of Law and Politics at Cardiff University and author of numerous legal philosophical and socio-legal publications, such as Sovereignty in Post-Sovereign Society (2015), Legal Symbolism (2007) and Dissidents of Law (2002). His research interests include social theory and philosophy of law, constitutional theory, philosophy of rights and constitutionalism.

Introduction: on Europe's crises and self-constitutions. Part I The European Self-Constitution - Concepts and Theories: The European Constitution and the pouvoir constituent - no longer, or never, sui generis?, Chris Thornhill; The concept of self-limiting polity in EU constitutionalism: a systems theoretical outline, Jirí Pribán; A political-sociological analysis of constitutional pluralism in Europe, Paul Blokker. Part II European Constitutional Jurisprudence: Pluralist constitutional paradoxes and cosmopolitan Europe, Joxerramon Bengoetxea; The pluralist turn and its political discontents, Marco Goldoni; Why supra-national law is not the exception. On the grounds of legal obligations beyond the state, George Pavlakos; Declaratory rule of law: self-constitution through unenforceable promises, Dimitry Kochenov. Part III EU Constitutionalism and Governance: Constitutionalising expertise in the EU: anchoring knowledge in democracy, Stijn Smismans; Bringing politics into European integration, Gareth Davies; A technocratic tyranny of certainty: a preliminary sketch, Michelle Everson. Part IV Crises of EU Constitutionalism: The European dual state: the double structural transformation of the public sphere and the need for re-politicization, Hauke Brunkhorst; Societal conditions of self-constitution: the experience of the European periphery, Pierre Guibentif; The empire of principle, Petr Agha. Index.