The End of Constitutionalism as We Know It? Boundaries and the State of Global Constitutional (Dis)Ordering

Abstract:     
Globalisation sparks aspirations for a new era of politics in which the world order would be constitutionalised. Whether this marks the coming of an age of global constitutionalism requires further investigation. This article aims to cast light on the issues surrounding global constitutional ordering by way of an examination of the relationship among the constitution, constitutionalism, and political power in political modernity. It is argued that constitutionalism and political power are traditionally reconciled as constitutional ordering within the framework of a constitutional nomos. At the core of this constitutional nomos is a dual delimitation of boundaries, generational and jurisdictional. A close inspection, however, shows that the constitutional nomos collapses in the process of globalisation, unsettling the reconciliation of constitutionalism and political power in constitutional ordering. As a result, constitutional ordering in the global era fluctuates between selective constitutionalism and constitutional fragmentism, signaling the end of constitutionalism as we know it.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 62

Keywords: Constitutional Theory, Global Constitutionalism, Boundary and Constitutional Nomos, Globalisation, Global Constitutional Ordering, Law's Networked Empire, Instantaneous Constitutionalisation, Selective Constitutionalism, Constitutional Fragmentism

Accepted Paper Series