A Cosmopolitan Legal Order: Constitutional Pluralism and Rights Adjudication in Europe

Journal of Global Constitutionalism, 1 (1) (2012): 53-90.

38 Pages Posted: 22 Aug 2011 Last revised: 16 Mar 2013

Date Written: November 1, 2011

Abstract

The European Convention on Human Rights is rapidly evolving into a cosmopolitan legal order: a transnational legal system in which all public officials bear the obligation to fulfill the fundamental rights of every person within their jurisdiction. The emergence of the system depended on certain deep, structural transformations of law and politics in Europe, including the consolidation of a zone of peace and economic interdependence, of constitutional pluralism at the national level, and of rights cosmopolitanism at the transnational level. Framed by Kantian ideas, the paper develops a theoretical account of a cosmopolitan legal system, provides an overview of how the ECHR system operates, and establishes criteria for its normative assessment.

Keywords: Kant, cosmopolitanism, decentralized sovereignty, constitutional pluralism, ECHR, fundamental rights

Suggested Citation

Stone Sweet, Alec, A Cosmopolitan Legal Order: Constitutional Pluralism and Rights Adjudication in Europe (November 1, 2011). Journal of Global Constitutionalism, 1 (1) (2012): 53-90., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1913657

Alec Stone Sweet (Contact Author)

HKU ( email )

Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
China

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