Constitutionalism and Constitutionalisation
29/08/2002
CLS-conference '02
Critical Legal Conference 6-8th September 2002 held at
University of North London - Call for Papers
webpage: www.unl.ac.uk/clc2002/
Call for Papers: Constitutionalism and Constitutionalisation - End or Revival of Liberal Governance?
Constitutionalism is one of the quite few political concepts that seems to have (at least on the rhetorical level) universal acceptance. There has also been a global development of constitutional law according to "constitutionalist" lines during the "third-wave of democratisation", a process that has been going on with an increasing pace since 1989. This process of "constitutionalisation" that has been going on in post-totalitarian or post-authoritarian countries is also visible on the level of supranational government in the European Union. A parallell to these political processes has been an unparallelled expansion in the studies of constitutionalism, that has drawn from disciplines as law, political science, economics and international relations (!).
"Constitutionalism" has traditionally been associated with liberal "rule of law state" that has sometimes been regarded as conflicting with the aspirations of the welfare state, Rechtsstaats-ideology and to some extent also associated with more or less watered down forms of market ideology.
However, it is obvious that the development of constitutionalism presently is multi-faceted, the emphasis on social rights in South Africa, the tendency to constitutionalise social rights as well as gender-equality in Europe, as well as the acceptance for affirmative action in constitutional law all tend to show that constitutionalism might have other implications than usually associated with it. As constitutionalism often has been associated with liberal views of equal treatment, it has lately also been associated with tendencies to manage ethnic conflicts through various forms of governmental recognition of cultural differences, that has often been seen as conflicting with its traditional liberal roots.
The increased importance of human rights protection is another side of the present day constitutionalism, while the out-sourcing of traditional governmental tasks (e.g. the quangos) that often results in a more unclear domain of human rights law. Other important characteristics of it, seems to be a more extensive protection of economic freedoms and sometimes even restriction of fiscal powers by judicial review. Another facet of it seems to be the increased interest in constitutionalising limits of the governmental tasks through constitutional texts that might be seen in certain European states, as well as in federal states as the US where the Supreme Court has been increasingly restrictive towards federal legislation beyond the commerce clause. These developments might be seen as a reinstallment of important traits of liberal governance. On another level it also includes a general acceptance for the set of political institutions associated with liberal democracies.
This stream of the Critical Legal Conference welcomes proposal for papers and presentations on any aspect of the development of constitutionalism in the world.
Carl Lebeck
c_lebeck@hotmail.com
Regarding this stream, please contact me at c_lebeck@hotmail.com
Lebeck@law.com
For further information about the conference, please consult its homepage,
http://www.unl.ac.uk/clc2002
or contact Professor Bill Bowring (b.bowring@unl.ac.uk) or Dr Adam Gearey (a.gearey@law.bbk.ac.uk)
