This seminar seeks to rethink traditional features of constitutional theory and constitutional law in the light of globalization. In the same way we can identify a developing pan-European constitutional order, so can we recognize the evolution of new legal, institutional and normative global processes. Students will be able to critically reflect on current constitutional challenges, such as: how sovereignty, democracy, and the concept of nation-state are being metamorphosed by increased supranational integration; state’s loss of centrality to the sphere of influence of international institutions, transnational non-governmental organizations or multilateral companies; the impact of judicial and economic globalization on the domestic legal orders; the interactions between supranational organizations and domestic constitutional law; how global scholarship is moving from clear-cut division between national and international law to refined concepts of interdependence between several constitutional layers of law.
Syllabus
I - Transnational constitutional law
a) Core meaning
b) Overlapping concepts (common constitutional traditions, comparative constitutional law, foreign/domestic constitutional law, international law)
c) Is constitutional law universal? Constitutional sovereigntists versus global constitutionalists.
II - Supranational integration beyond the state
a) European Union
b) Regional International Law (Council of Europe)
c) International Global Law.
III - International convergence of constitutional norms and transjudicial dialogue
a) Which liberal democracies count? Only Europe and North America? Advocacy of a genuine transnational and cross-cultural dialogue
b) United States exceptionalism, originalism and aversion to comparative constitutional law
c) Transition to comparative constitutional studies (relevance of joining theory and data - towards joint normative and empirical studies)
d) Current threats to constitutional democracies worldwide.
IV - Transnational law in context (global agencies, internet law, antiterrorism law)
