IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/polstu/v56y2008i3p519-543.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Taking Constitutionalism Beyond the State

Author

Listed:
  • Neil Walker

Abstract

In recent years, the idea that constitutional modes of government are exclusive to states has become the subject both of sustained challenge and of strong defence. This is due to the development at new regional and global sites of decision‐making capacities of a scale and intensity often associated with the demand for constitutional governance at state level, to the supply at these same new sites of certain regulatory institutions and practices of a type capable of being viewed as meeting the demand for constitutional governance, as well as to a growing debate over whether and in what ways these developments in decision‐making capacity and regulatory control should be coded and can be constructively engaged with in explicitly constitutional terms. The aim of the article is threefold. It asks why taking the idea and associated ethos and methods of constitutionalism ‘beyond the state’ might be viewed as a significant and controversial innovation, and so in need of explanation and justification – a question that requires us to engage with the definition of constitutionalism and with the contestation surrounding that definition. Secondly, taking account of the various arguments that lie behind these definitional concerns, it attempts to develop a scheme for understanding certain key features of constitutionalism and of its post‐state development that is able to command broad agreement. Thirdly, and joining the concerns of the first two sections, it seeks to identify the key current tensions – or antinomies – surrounding the growth of post‐state constitutionalism with a view to indicating what is at stake in the future career of that concept.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil Walker, 2008. "Taking Constitutionalism Beyond the State," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(3), pages 519-543, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:56:y:2008:i:3:p:519-543
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00749.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00749.x
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2008.00749.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margaret Canovan, 1996. "Nationhood and Political Theory," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 796.
    2. Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich, 2000. "The WTO Constitution and Human Rights," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 19-25, March.
    3. Sartori, Giovanni, 1962. "Constitutionalism: A Preliminary Discussion," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 853-864, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neil Walker, 2007. "Taking Constitutionalism Beyond the State," RECON Online Working Papers Series 5, RECON.
    2. Jolanta Bieliauskaite & Vytautas Slapkauskas, 2016. "European Constitutionalism as the Metatheory of the Construction of Legal and Political Reality and the Challenges for its Development," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 41-52, March.
    3. Anupama Roy, 2022. "Institutional ‘Presence’ and the Indian State: The Long Narrative," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 185-200, December.
    4. Arsic, Jelena & Jerinic, Jelena, 2024. "Going back to the drawing board: The picture of family support in European constitutions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Modesta Chinwe Akunede & Geraldine Ejiaka Nzeribe & Uju Regina Ezenekwe, 2022. "Human Capital Development in Nigeria: Determinants and Challenges," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(10), pages 465-476, October.
    6. Campbell Sharman, 1990. "Parliamentary Federations and Limited Government," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(2), pages 205-230, April.
    7. Catherine E. De Vries, 2023. "How Foundational Narratives Shape European Union Politics," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 867-881, July.
    8. Simon Caney, 2008. "Global Distributive Justice and the State," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(3), pages 487-518, October.
    9. Jeff Spinner‐Halev, 2008. "Democracy, Solidarity and Post‐nationalism," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(3), pages 604-628, October.
    10. Bálint Madlovics & Bálint Magyar, 2021. "Post-communist predation: modeling reiderstvo practices in contemporary predatory states," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 247-273, June.
    11. Joanna LANGILLE, 2020. "The trade–labour relationship in the light of the WTO Appellate Body's embrace of pluralism," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 159(4), pages 569-589, December.
    12. Wiener, Antje, 2007. "Making normative meaning accountable in international politics," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Global Governance SP IV 2007-305, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    13. Moamen Gouda, 2013. "Islamic constitutionalism and rule of law: a constitutional economics perspective," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 57-85, March.
    14. Luis Moreno, 2011. "Multilevel citizens, new social risks and regional welfare," Working Papers 1103, Instituto de Políticas y Bienes Públicos (IPP), CSIC.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:56:y:2008:i:3:p:519-543. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0032-3217 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.