Rethinking Constitutionalism and Democracy… Again?

Abstract

This is a review essay on three recently published books that seek to rethink constitutionalism and democracy in the context of European integration. The books are: Dieter Grimm, The Constitution of European Democracy (Oxford: OUP 2017), Athanasios Psygkas, From the “Democratic Deficit” to a “Democratic Surplus”: Constructing Administrative Democracy in Europe (Oxford: OUP 2017) and Turkuler Isiksel, Europe’s Functional Constitution: A Theory of Constitutionalism beyond the State (Oxford: OUP 2016). The review essay puts these books in the context of the Project IMAGINE and examines them as attempts to establish new constitutional imaginaries of Europe.

Keywords: European integration, European constitutionalism, constitutional ideology