Global Constitutionalism and the Rise of Authoritarianism: A New Era of “Sad Resignation”?

ABSTRACT

Global constitutionalism is a multifaceted discourse with the objective of building up global law by reconstructing international law and constitutional law. It promises much to better comprehend the black holes of globalisation, including its relationship to the rule of law. This discourse’ expansive scope necessitates questioning its relationship to ongoing discourses on the recent global rise of authoritarianism. However, global constitutionalism discourse is heavily shaped by normative theories that reflect limited, discrete and subjective views on the global order that fail to mirror intersubjective meanings of the central subjects of the discourse. This article will examine the relationship between global constitutionalism and authoritarianism beyond this framework and will introduce “global constitutional culture” as the factual background of the global constitutionalism discourse. In doing so, this paper will seek reconceptualization of the global constitutionalism discourse in view of multidimensional aspects thereof, including liberal and emancipatory claims attributed to it.

KEYWORDS:

• Global constitutionalism
• constitution
• authoritarianism
• democratic backsliding
• constitutional culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For mapping studies in this field (Schwöbel 2010; Wiener 2011). The potential impacts of the current global crisis of liberal democracies will be addressed.ng hte.

2 Well-known examples of this approach are “the UN Charter as the constitution of the international legal order” by Fassbender (2009); and “the idea of WTO Constitution” by Petersmann (2000).

3 In the remainder of this article, I will address global constitutionalism as a discourse on the nature of the international legal order, which includes the sum of distinct theories in this field, instead of adhering to a specific global constitutionalist theory.

4 https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/01/istanbul-convention-poland-moves-a-step-closer-to-quitting-domestic-violence-treaty

5 Demirtas v Turkey (No. 2) App no 14305/17 (ECtHR, 22 December 2020); Kavala v Turkey App no 28749/18 (10 December 2019). Erdogan stated that the ECtHR explicitly supports terrorism: https://www.duvarenglish.com/turkish-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-dismisses-european-court-of-human-rights-selahattin-demirtas-ruling-says-it-doesnt-bind-turkey-news-55586 ○