Alexander Somek - The Cosmopolitan Constitution

Series Editors:

Martin Loughlin, John P. McCormick, and Neil Walker

(p.ii) OXFORD CONSTITUTIONAL THEORY

Series Editors:

Martin Loughlin, John P. McCormick, and Neil Walker

Oxford Constitutional Theory has rapidly established itself as the primary point of reference for theoretical reflections on the growing interest in constitutions and constitutional law in domestic, regional and global contexts. The majority of the works published in the series are monographs that advance new understandings of their subject. But the series aims to provide a forum for further innovation in the field by also including well-conceived edited collections that bring a variety of perspectives and disciplinary approaches to bear on specific themes in constitutional thought and by publishing English translations of leading monographs in constitutional theory that have originally been written in languages other than English.

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Sovereigntys Promise

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Constitutional Fragments

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(p.v) For George and Paul Horacek (p.vi)

This is a book on constitutionalism. It explores its rise and transformation up to the point at which it becomes suddenly confronted with its potential demise. Mainstream discourse notoriously ignores this dialectical turn. It is blinded by the belief that the one remaining obstacle to human progress is the nation state. This book, by contrast, offers a cautionary tale. Against the strong current of contemporary scholarship that celebrates the consummation of constitutionalism at a global scale, the book reckons with the twilight of idols. Greater constitutionalization of supranational or even international law threatens to rob constitutionalism of its political core. This can only be avoided by conceiving of the cosmopolitan constitution as a national constitution that submits its operation to the supervision of international peer institutions.

Three distinguished institutions made the work on this book possible: the University of Iowa College of Law, the Berlin Institute for Advanced Studies, and Princeton University.

I am the lucky beneficiary of the veritable dream team providing stewardship for my home institution: Dean Gail Agrawal, whose energy and charisma are unmatched, and Associate Deans Eric Andersen and Todd Pettys, whose dedication to their community is very humbling for ordinary citizens like me. Had it not been for their unflagging support, I would have never been able to finish this book.

During the academic year of 200708 the Berlin Institute for Advanced Studies provided me with a perfect research environment by awarding me a fellowship. It allowed me to participate in a focus group on the constitution beyond the nation state. With gratitude I remember the countless conversations I had with the other members of this group: Petra Dobner, Dieter Grimm, Bogdan Iancu, Martin Loughlin, Fritz Scharpf, Gunther Teubner, and Rainer Wahl. We met at least once a week in order to give each other a really hard time: No pain, no gain. Giving each other a hard time is also what Mattias Kumm and I were frequently up to whenever we met in Berlins Caf Einstein during that year.

While the experience in Berlin helped me to recalibrate my project, a fellowship in the Law and Public Policy Program of Princeton University (201213) finally allowed me to write everything down. Indeed, teaching a Freshman Seminar at Princeton in the fall of 2012 reassured me of the soundness of the overall conception. Two of my students, Oren Fliegelman and Martin Page, subsequently became my research assistants and helped me with the sources for Chapter One. Luckily, Martin Loughlin turned out to be one of my fellow fellows again. It may well be that out of fear of his stern supervision I was able to finish the book rather quickly. (p.viii)

The Law and Public Policy Program is rightly reputed to be a true intellectual power house. It would not be what it is if it were not for the leadership provided by Kim Scheppele and Leslie Gerwin and the dedicated work by Judi Rifkin and Jennifer Bolton. While I was at Princeton, other people joined me in thinking about constitutional issues, among them, in particular, Christopher Eisgruber, Antonio Estella de Noriega, William Ewald, Lisa Miller, Mirjam Knkler, Jan-Werner Mller, and Yaniv Roznai.