(Dis)Embodiments of Constitutional Authorship: Global Tax Competition and the Crisis of Constitutional Democracy

Abstract:     
The initial onset of globalization generated optimism regarding the possible creation of a global legal universe capable of transcending the borders of demos-centered constitutional states. This optimism, however, remains unfulfilled. Constitutional democracy, meanwhile, as currently understood, is undergoing an institutional self-transformation. This Article rethinks the constitutional order in the age of globalization. The approach detailed here addresses legal globalization by inspecting the constitutional welfare state in light of contemporary global tax competition. This argument emphasizes that globalization in general and global tax competition in particular expose the limits of the constitutional state's governing ability. Specifically, the institutional responses to global tax competition from constitutional states reveal the existential challenge to constitutional democracy created by globalization: the undermining of the legitimacy of constitutional order by the dissolution of "constitutional authorship." A closer inspection shows that intrinsic to those institutional responses is the common feature that the relationship between the governing authority and its citizens in these strategies inevitably dissolves. The resulting disembodiment of "constitutional authorship" has led to the current existential crisis of constitutional democracy.

Keywords: constitutional authorship, legal globalization, tax competition, welfare state, constitutional democracy, legitimacy, citizenship, global governance

Accepted Paper Series