Global Constitutional Law (Seminar)

3 ECTS / Semester / English

Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Transnational constitutional law
    a) Core meaning;
    Overlapping concepts (common constitutional traditions, comparative constitutional law, foreign/domestic constitutional law, international law);
    c) Is constitutional law universal? Constitutional sovereigntists versus global constitutionalists.
     
  2.  Supranational integration beyond the state
    a) European Union;
    b) Regional International Law (Council of Europe);
    c) International Global Law.
     
  3.  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). 
     
  4. Transnational law in context (global agencies, internet law, antiterrorism law).

Faculty

Professor(a) Auxiliar
Licenciada (2004), mestre (2009) e doutora (2015) em Direito na Escola do Porto da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade Católica Portuguesa (EPFD-UCP), onde…