Constitutional legitimacy and how that legitimacy empowers and limits constitutional actors and institutions has become increasingly important. After the wave of constitution making and innovation constitutional developments in the 1990s there has been a regression in liberal constitutionalism and rule of law across the globe. This panel will explore several topics concerning the nature of...
Tag: <span>TUESDAY JUNE 26 2018 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM</span>
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL PLURALISM
Constitutional monism and legal monism – the idea that there is a clear hierarchy of institutions and rules within a constitutional or legal order – have proved to be inadequate theories for conceptualizing contemporary constitutional and legal orders. This panel explores pluralism, an alternative to monism, from the descriptive, normative and explanatory angles. It examines...
ON THE THEORY OF HUMAN AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
The panel explores the ideas of a right to justification and the culture of justification in the context of human and constitutional rights adjudication. Questions to be discussed include: Does the right to justification require the same outcomes everywhere? How does justification relate to justice, in particular in the context of the EU? How should...
THE ROLE OF EUROPEAN CITIZENS IN REFORMING EU DEMOCRACY
This panel addresses the ever more emphatic challenge of enhancing EU democratic legitimacy and citizen involvement in EU decision making. It does so by analysing the institutional position of European citizens in EU democratic reform processes. The panel focuses on three key reform initiatives or avenues aimed at galvanising citizen participation “in the democratic life...
THE ROLE OF EXPERTS IN PUBLIC LAW
In the last decade we have observed a gradual disenchantment with the reign of elites and experts. The legitimacy of the experts has traditionally been associated with governmental authority or high levels of expertise. On the one hand, with the rise of automation and digital platforms, everyone appears to have a say, the crowd has...
CONCEPTUALIZING AND OPERATIONALIZING IDENTITY: A CHALLENGE FOR PUBLIC LAW
The conceptual framework of the panel concerns the role of public law in identity politics, in particular how law can conceptualize racial, gender and religious identities. One paper provides an overview of potential concepts through which the issue can be assessed, focusing in particular on the legal-administrative conceptualization of “choice“ and “fraud.“ Another explores how...
POPULIST CHALLENGES TO LIBERAL CONSTITUTIONALISM I
The two panels deal with the future of liberal constitutionalism amid the emergence of populist constitutionalism. The first panel will explore the possible reasons of both left‐ and right‐wing populism, and their relationship to liberal constitutionalism. The second panel concentrates on case studies in Europe and beyond (Israel, Brazil). Here, particular attention will be paid...
CONSTITUTIONALISATION, DECONSTITUTIONALISATION AND EUROPEANISATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW: A CHALLENGE FOR THE IDENTITY OF PUBLIC LAW
A key feature of the identity of public law is, as Sabino Cassese has just recalled in an I*CON Guest Editorial, its traditional subdivision into constitutional and administrative law – a subdivision which the ongoing process of constitutionalisation relativises, though. Its degree varies from country to country. Moreover, two megatrends impacting European administrative legal orders,...
TOWARDS EVER MORE EFFECTIVITY IN ANTIDISCRIMINATION LAW? TECHNICAL AND THEORETICAL INNOVATIONS IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
The question of discrimination has been a point of convergence for clashing societal demands. Claims for identity and diversity accommodation have met increasing opposition in the form of assimilationist discourses on security and dignity. Due to its balancing function, antidiscrimination law has been on the frontline of these debates, crystallising questions over its scope, purpose...