Abstract
This chapter reviews some of the developments and policies since the late 1970s that resulted in the ‘locking in’ of capitalism and the ‘locking out’ of democracy — within democratic states, at the level of the European Union (EU) and in international organisations. Particular attention is being paid to the processes of juridification and judicialisation, and, more broadly, the role of law in this political project of constraining democracy. It is suggested that this policy, and indeed the emergence of a global governance architecture, must be seen as an essential aspect of the political economy of capitalism and its reproduction. It is being argued that the current debate on global constitutionalisation and global constitutionalism systematically neglects to address the marginalisation of democratic institutions and politics and thus is complicit in entrenching neo-liberal policies. It is argued, with reference to Jürgen Habermas’s writings on global constitutionalisation and the ‘constitution’ of the European Union, that global constitutionalism is not the via regia to the resurgence of a democratic politics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Annual Growth Survey (2013) COM(2012) 75 final at http://ec.europa.eu/euroep2020/pdf/ags2013_en.pdf.
Axtmann, R. (2007) Democracy. Problems and Perspectives (Edinburgh: EUP).
Axtmann, R. (2010) ‘Democracy and Globality’, Studies of Transition States and Societies, 2, 1, 22–35.
Bellamy, R. (2007) Political Constitutionalism: A Republican Defence of the Constitutionality of Democracy (Cambridge: CUP).
Clarkson, S. and Wood, S. (2010) A Perilous Imbalance: The Globalisation of Canadian Law and Governance (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press).
Dobner, P. and Loughlin, M. (eds) (2010) The Twilight of Constitutionalism? (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Dunoff, J. and Trachtman, J. (2009) ‘A Functional Approach to International Constitutionalisation’ in J. L. Dunoff and J. P. Trachtman (eds) Ruling the World? Constitutionalism, International Law, and Global Governance (Cambridge: CUP).
European Court of Justice ‘Cassis de Dijon’: C-120/78 [1979], ECR I-649.
European Court of Justice ‘Corbeau’: C-320/91 [1993], ECR I-2533.
European Court of Human Rights’ sporrong and Loennroth v. Sweden’, Application nos 7151/75 and 7152/75, judgment of 23 September 1982.
Gill, S. (2002) Power and Resistance in the New World Order (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan).
Goodwin, M. (2010) ‘Plugging the Legitimacy Gap? The Ubiquity of Human Rights and the Rhetoric of Global Constitutionalism’, Rechtsfilosofie&Rechtstheorie, 39, 3, 245–255.
Gowan, P. (2003) ‘The New Liberal Cosmopolitanism’ in D. Archibugi (ed.) Debating Cosmopolitics (London: Verso).
Grimm, D. (2009) ‘The Achievements of Constitutionalism and its Prospects in a Changing World’ in Petra Dobner and Martin Loughlin (eds) The Twilight of Constitutionalism? (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Grimm, D. (2012a) ‘Die Bedeutung nationaler Verfassungen in einem vereinten Europa’ in Dieter Grimm Die Zukunft der Verfassung II (Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag).
Grimm, D. (2012b) ‘Wer ist souverän in der Europäischen Union’ in Dieter Grimm Die Zukunft der Verfassung II (Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag).
Grimm, D. (2012c) ‘Zur Rolle der nationalen Verfassungsgerichte in der europäischen Demokratie’, in Dieter Grimm, Die Zukunft der Verfassung II (Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag).
Habermas, J. (1997) ‘Kant’s Idea of Perpetual Peace, with the Benefit of Two Hundred Years’ Hindsight’ in James Bohman and Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (eds) Perpetual Peace. Essays on Kant’s Cosmopolitan Ideal (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
Habermas, J. (2001a) ‘Constitutional Democracy: A Paradoxical Union of Contradictory Principles?’, Political Theory, 29, 1, 766–781.
Habermas, J. (2001b) The Postnational Constellation. Political Essays (Cambridge: Polity).
Habermas, J. (2004) ‘Hat die Konstitutionalisierung des Völkerrechtsnocheine Chance?’ in Jürgen Habermas Der gespalteneWesten (Frankfurt a. M.: SuhrkampVerlag).
Habermas, J. (2008) ‘The Constitutionalisation of International Law and the Legitimation Problems of a Constitution for World Society’, Constellations, 15, 4, 444–455.
Habermas, J. (2011) Zur Verfassung Europas. Ein Essay (Berlin: Suhrkamp).
Hirschl, R. (2004) Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).
Huntington, S. P. (1991) The Third Wave: Democratisation in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press).
Klabbers, J. (2009) ‘setting the Scene’ in Jan Klabbers, Anne Peters and Geir Ulfstein, The Constitutionalization of International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Loughlin, M. (2009) ‘What is Constitutionalisation?’ in Petra Dobner and Martin Loughlin (eds) The Twilight of Constitutionalism? (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Loughlin, M. (2010) ‘What is Constitutionalisation?’ in: Dobner, Petra and Loughlin, Martin, (eds.) The Twilight of Constitutionalism?. (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
McMichael, P. (1996). Globalization: Myths and Realities, Rural Sociology 61: 25–55.
Menéndez, A. (2012) ‘Capitalistic Constitutional Transformations?’ in Danny Nicol’s The Constitutional Protection of Capitalism, German Law Journal, 13, 134–164.
Nicol, D. (2010) The Constitutional Protection of Capitalism (Oxford: Hart Publishing).
Panitch, L. and Gindin, S. (2012) The Making of Global Captialism. The Political Economy of American Empire (London: Verso).
Peters, A. (2009a) ‘Membership in the Global Constitutional Community’ in Jan Klabbers, Anne Peters and Geir Ulfstein, The Constitutionalization of International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Peters, A. (2009b) ‘The Merits of Global Constitutionalism’, Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 16, 2, 397–411.
Peters, A. (2009c) ‘Humanity as the A and Û of Sovereignty’, European Journal of International Law, 20, 3, 513–544.
Roberts, A. (2010) The Logic of Discipline. Global Capitalism and the Architecture of Government (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Rompuy, H. (2012) Towards a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union (5 December 2012), http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/134069.pdf.
Rummens, S. (2010) ‘The Co-originality of Law and Democracy in the Moral Horizon of Modernity’, Rechtsfilosopfie & Rechtstheorie, 39, 3, 256–266.
Schmitter, P. (1995) ‘Democracy’s Future: More Liberal, Preliberal or Postliberal?’, Journal of Democracy, 6, 1, 15–22.
Schwöbel, C. (2010) ‘Organic Global Constitutionalism’, Leiden Journal of International Law, 23, 529–553.
Thatcher, M. (2005) ‘The Third Force? Independent Regulatory Agencies and Elected Politicians in Europe’, Governance, 18, 3, 347–373.
Thatcher, M. and Coen, D. (2008) ‘Reshaping European regulatory Space: An Evolutionary Analysis’, West European Politics, 31, 4, 806–836.
Vibert, F. (2007) The Rise of the Unelected: Democracy and the New Separations of Powers (Cambridge: CUP).
Walker, N. (2012) ‘The Place of European Law’ in G. de Burca and J. Weiler (eds) The Worlds of European Constitutionalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Wouter, W. (2007) ‘The Never-Ending Closure: Constitutionalism and International Law’ in Nicholas Tsagourias (ed.) Transnational Constitutionalism: International and European Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Roland Axtmann
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Axtmann, R. (2014). Global Governance, Constitutionalism and Democracy. In: Isakhan, B., Slaughter, S. (eds) Democracy and Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326041_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326041_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-45961-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-32604-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)