030502 KU Transformations of Constitutionalism (2017S)

We are currently witness to the emergence of a third wave of the constitutionalist project. It raises the question what remains of the original ideas.
Constitutionalism 1.0 is the old-fashioned project to create and sustain limited government. The basic tools thereto are jurisdictional constraints and negative rights. The constitution is understood to be a written document, authored by a people. Its application is to be based upon interpretation. This is the world as created by the American (and the French) revolution.
Constitutionalism 2.0 accords to the constitution an even more important role. It is supposed to inform the creation of optimal government. Therefore, the constitution does not only limit; it guides. Adjudicating bodies loom large. That the constitution is written matters very little. The constitution is but another name for the precepts of practical reason. With regard to the scope of its authority, the constitution becomes “total.” The paradigmatic case for this type of constitution is post-war Germany.
Constitutionalism 3.0, roughly speaking, stands for the constitution in the process of denationalization. In several respects, the authority of the constitution becomes recast from a cosmopolitan perspective. However, it denotes also the situation in which the constitution—owing to transnational forces—is increasingly confronted with its own limitations and encounters its “other.” The relevant keywords are multilevel systems, pluralism, the rise of executive authority or the normalcy of emergency rule.
The class does not suggest that we observe a historical sequence in the course of which one constitutionalism replaces the other; rather successor versions become grafted upon their predecessor.
aim: offers a solid historical overview of constitutionalism.