The EUI Constitutionalism and Politics Working Group hosts a presentation by Professor Martin Loughlin (LSE).
Speaker
The Constitutionalism and Politics Working Group is delighted to invite you to Pr. Martin Loughlin’s presentation of his book Against Constitutionalism (HUP 2022). Martin Loughlin is Professor of Public Law at the London School of Economics. A Fellow of the British Academy, he is series editor of Oxford Constitutional Theory and has co-edited the Cambridge Companion to the Rule of Law (2021) and a volume on the Paradox of Constitutionalism (2007). He is the author of Public Law and Political Theory (1992), Legality and Locality (1996), Sword and Scales: An Examination of the Relation of Law and Politics (2000), The Idea of Public Law (2003), Foundations of Public Law (2010), The British Constitution (2013), and Political Jurisprudence (2017).
Synopsis
Constitutionalism is universally commended because it has never been precisely defined. Martin Loughlin argues that it is not some vague amalgam of liberal aspirations but a specific and deeply contentious governing philosophy. An Enlightenment idea that in the nineteenth century became America’s unique contribution to the philosophy of government, constitutionalism was by the mid-twentieth century widely regarded as an anachronism. Advocating separated powers and limited government, it was singularly unsuited to the political challenges of the times. But constitutionalism has since undergone a remarkable transformation, giving the Constitution an unprecedented role in society. Once treated as a practical instrument to regulate government, the Constitution has been raised to the status of civil religion, a symbolic representation of collective unity. Against Constitutionalism explains why this has happened and its far-reaching consequences. Spearheaded by a rights revolution that subjects governmental action to comprehensive review through abstract principles, judges acquire greatly enhanced power as oracles of the regime’s invisible constitution. Constitutionalism is refashioned as a theory maintaining that governmental authority rests not on collective will but on adherence to abstract standards of public reason. And across the world the variable practices of constitutional government have been reshaped by its precepts. Constitutionalism, Loughlin argues, now propagates the widespread belief that social progress is advanced not through politics, electoral majorities, and legislative action, but through innovative judicial interpretation. The rise of constitutionalism, commonly conflated with constitutional democracy, actually contributes to its degradation.
The book could be accessed through this EUI Link.
Reviews
Review by Jonathan Gould in the Harvard Law Review.
Review by Mark Tushnet on the Social Science Research Network.