IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cmn/journl/y2016i1p41-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

European Constitutionalism as the Metatheory of the Construction of Legal and Political Reality and the Challenges for its Development

Author

Listed:
  • Jolanta Bieliauskaite

    (Mykolas Romeris University, Faculty of Law)

  • Vytautas Slapkauskas

    (Mykolas Romeris University, Faculty of Public Security)

Abstract

The latter European crisis reveals the fact that traditional agreements between governments of the Member States and supranational political and legal institutions of the European Union are not sufficient for the maintenance of European Union stability and integrity. Therefore, the political and legal sustainability of the European Union requires a certain metatheory as a methodology, which could essentially contribute to the coherent construction, interpretation and assessment of theoretical and practical issues of the European Union's legal and political reality. This paper aims to explore two main questions: What is constitutionalism as a legal-political metatheory? What challenges are faced by this theory while addressing the specific EU legal-political reality construction problems? The results of the research reveal that constitutionalism as a metatheory is constituted by principles and values, which provide ideological support for the development of the nation, and performs a methodological function in the construction of legal and political reality. However, the EU's political elite still seeks to legitimize constitutionalism as a political action theory, which, accordingly, legitimizes the respective legal policies it pursues. This process dangerously increases the gap between the EU's political elite and the societies of its Member States.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:cmn:journl:y:2016:i:1:p:41-52
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.eaco.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bieliauskaite-slapkauskas.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michiel Brand, 2004. "Affirming and Refining European Constitutionalism: Towards the Establishment of the First Constitution for the European Union," EUI-LAW Working Papers 2, European University Institute (EUI), Department of Law.
    2. 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. Anupama Roy, 2022. "Institutional ‘Presence’ and the Indian State: The Long Narrative," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 185-200, December.
    2. 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).
    3. Campbell Sharman, 1990. "Parliamentary Federations and Limited Government," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 2(2), pages 205-230, April.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Neil Walker, 2008. "Taking Constitutionalism Beyond the State," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(3), pages 519-543, October.
    8. Moamen Gouda, 2013. "Islamic constitutionalism and rule of law: a constitutional economics perspective," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 57-85, March.

    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:cmn:journl:y:2016:i:1:p:41-52. 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: Helena Campbelle (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.eaco.eu .

    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.