Table Of ContentRoutledge Research in Constitutional Law
CONSTITUTIONAL
ACCELERATION WITHIN
THE EUROPEAN UNION
AND BEYOND
Edited by
Paul Blokker
Constitutional Acceleration within the
European Union and Beyond
Modern constitutionalism as an idea and practice is facing great uncertainty in
current times. Scholarly debates focus predominantly on constitutions beyond
the state, while the predicament of domestic constitutionalism is much less
considered. This volume contributes to a theoretically informed analysis of the
key challenges and changes affecting domestic constitutionalism in Europe and
beyond, departing from the idea of ‘constitutional acceleration’ or the increased
propensity of different actors to engage in (formal) reform of the constitutional
order. The volume points to a fundamental change in the function of consti-
tutions in that constitutions themselves are increasingly subjects of political
contestation rather than framing political debates.
The collection of essays addresses a range of critical challenges – including
societal acceleration, depoliticization, civic engagement, multi-faceted constitu-
ent power, modernization, populism and nationalism, and transnationalization.
The volume includes a variety of disciplinary, and in some cases interdisciplinary,
approaches, including (political) sociology, political science, constitutional law,
and constitutional and legal theory, and will be of interest to researchers and stu-
dents in any of these areas. Case studies focus on the EU and the wider European
context, and include highly relevant but little known or ill-understood cases,
such as the recent constitutional events in Iceland, Italy, or Romania, and cases
of democratic reversal, such as Hungary, while also engaging with traditional but
rapidly changing cases of constitutional interest, such as the UK.
Paul Blokker is Associate Professor and Jean Monnet Chair at the Institute of
Sociological Studies, Charles University, Prague. His publications include New
Democracies in Crisis? A Comparative Constitutional Study of the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, Routledge (2013); ‘EU Democratic
Oversight and Domestic Deviation from the Rule of Law: Sociological
Reflections’, in: C. Closa and D. Kochenov (eds), Reinforcing the Rule of Law
Oversight in the European Union, CUP (2016); and, co-edited with Chris
Thornhill, Sociological Constitutionalism, CUP (forthcoming, 2017).
Routledge Research in Constitutional Law
This series features thought-provoking and original scholarship on constitutional
law and theory. Books explore key topics, themes, and questions in the field with
a particular emphasis on comparative studies. Where relevant, titles will engage
with political and social theory, philosophy, and history in order to offer a rounded
analysis of constitutions and constitutional law. Series Editor: David Marrani
Available titles in this series include:
The Legal Philosophy and Influence of Jeremy Bentham
Essays on ‘Of the Limits of the Penal Branch of Jurisprudence’
Edited by Guillaume Tusseau
Constitutionalism in the Global Realm
A Sociological Approach
Poul F. Kjaer
The Accountability Gap in EU law
Marios Costa
Equal Citizenship, Civil Rights, and the Constitution
The Original Sense of the Privileges or Immunities Clause
Christopher R. Green
Democracy and the Human Rights Act
Republican Analysis of Citizen Power
Dennis Dixon
Constitution-making and Human Rights in the Sudans
Edited by Mohamed Abdelsalam and Lutz Oette
Constitutional Acceleration within the European Union and Beyond
Paul Blokker
Constitutional Acceleration
within the European Union
and Beyond
Edited by Paul Blokker
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2018 selection and editorial matter, Paul Blokker; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Paul Blokker to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Blokker, Paul, editor.
Title: Constitutional acceleration within the European Union and
beyond / edited by Paul Blokker.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017021885| ISBN 9781138211070 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315453644 (adobe reader) | ISBN 9781315453637
(epub) | ISBN 9781315453620 (mobipocket)
Subjects: LCSH: Constitutional law—European Union countries. |
European Union.
Classification: LCC KJE4445 .C6585 2017 | DDC 342.24—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017021885
ISBN: 978-1-138-21107-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-45365-1 (ebk)
Typeset in ITC Galliard Std
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents
List of contributors vii
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: Constitutional challenges, reform,
and acceleration 1
PAUL BLOKKER
PART I
Reflections on constitutional change in times
of acceleration 23
1 Towards participatory constitutionalism?
Comparative European lessons 25
FRANCESCO PALERMO
2 (Not) fast and (not) furious? (Un)constitutional
responsiveness and the boundaries of
constituent imagination 48
ZORAN OKLOPCIC
3 The multifaceted sovereign: Domestic and
international actors in constitutional regime change 73
ANDREW ARATO AND GÁBOR ATTILA TÓTH
PART II
Constitutional reforms in ‘established’ democracies 97
4 Participatory constitution-making and the renovation
of the UK constitution 99
SILVIA SUTEU
vi Contents
5 Constitutional paradigms: The Italian 1948 Constitution
between conservation and reform 119
PAUL BLOKKER
6 Ireland’s evolving constitution 142
JANE SUITER, DAVID M. FARRELL, AND CLODAGH HARRIS
7 The constitution as a political tool in Iceland: From the
periphery to the center of the political debate 155
BALDVIN THOR BERGSSON
PART III
Constitution-making, constitutional reform, and
deadlock in ‘new’ democracies 175
8 Constitutional revision in Romania: Post-accession
pluralism in action 177
BOGDAN IANCU
9 Changing constitutional identity via amendment 197
KRISZTA KOVÁCS
10 The rise and fall of constitutionalism in Hungary 215
GÁBOR HALMAI
Index 232
Contributors
Andrew Arato is the Dorothy Hart Hirshon Professor in Political and Social
Theory at the New School for Social Research in New York. He has taught
at L’École des hautes études and Sciences Po in Paris, as well as at the
Central European University in Budapest. He had a Fulbright teaching grant
to Montevideo in 1991, and was Distinguished Fulbright Professor at the
Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Professor Arato has served as a con-
sultant for the Hungarian Parliament on constitutional issues (1996–1997)
and as US State Department Democracy Lecturer and Consultant (on consti-
tutional issues) on Nepal (2007). He was reappointed by the State Department
in the same capacity for Zimbabwe (November of 2010), where he had
discussions with civil society activists and political leaders in charge of the con-
stitution-making process. He was invited Professor at the College de France
(Spring 2012). Professor Arato’s scholarly research is widely recognized, and
conferences and sessions have been organized around his work at University of
Glasgow Law School (Spring 2009) and Koc University, Istanbul (December
2009), as well as at the Faculty of Law, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa (August 2010). Arato was appointed Honorary
Professor and Bram Fischer Visiting Scholar at the School of Law, University
of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (June 2010–June 2011).
Baldvin Thor Bergsson is a political scientist at the University of Iceland, and a
reporter at the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RUV). Between 2013
and 2015, Bergsson held a research fellowship at the University of Trento, Italy.
His research includes a focus on social movements and changing power rela-
tions in the aftermath of the Icelandic financial crisis in 2008. He holds an MSc
in International Political Theory from the University of Edinburgh. He has
worked as a reporter and assistant editor for the Icelandic National Television
and Radio (RUV) since 2002, and covered both politics and the economy
extensively. He has hosted several live political debates and election nights and
is currently the host of the TV news magazine Kastljós.
Paul Blokker is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Institute of
Sociological Studies, Charles University and Jean Monnet Chair in European
Political Sociology. His current research is on constitutional change,
viii Contributors
constitutional politics, a sociology of constitutions, multiple democracies,
critique and dissent, and democratic participation. His recent publica-
tions include: Sociological Constitutionalism (edited with Chris Thornhill,
Cambridge University Press, 2017); New Democracies in Crisis? A Comparative
Constitutional Study of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and
Slovakia (Routledge, 2013). He is an International Editorial Board Member
of the European Journal of Social Theory and Co-Editor of the new journal
Social Imaginaries.
David M. Farrell is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a specialist
in the study of parties, elections, electoral systems, and members of parlia-
ment. His current research focuses on the role of deliberation in constitutional
reform processes. In 2012, he was elected as President of the Political Studies
Association of Ireland. In 2013, he was elected as Speaker of the Council of
the European Consortium for Political Research; a position he was re-elected
to in 2016. Professor Farrell is founding Co-Editor of Party Politics. David
is Head of the School of Politics and International Relations, at University
College Dublin. Prior to his move to Dublin, Professor Farrell was Professor
and Head of Social Sciences at the University of Manchester.
Gábor Halmai is Professor of Law and Chair of Constitutional Law at the
European University Institute in Florence. His primary research interests
are comparative constitutional law and international human rights. He has
published several books and articles, as well as edited volumes on these top-
ics in English, German, and Hungarian. His most recent book, Perspectives
on Global Constitutionalism deals with the use of foreign and international
law by domestic courts (published by Eleven International Publishing in
2014). He joined the EUI after a teaching and research career (at the Eötvös
Loránd University in Hungary, at Princeton University in the US, and at the
European Masters Program in Human Rights and Democratisation in Italy)
as well as years in a professional career as Chief Advisor to the President of
the Hungarian Constitutional Court, member of the EU Fundamental Rights
Agency’s Management Board, and numerous other civic activities.
Clodagh Harris is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government, University
College Cork. Her research interests include: democratic theory and practice
(particularly deliberative and participatory democracy); democratic innova-
tions; citizen engagement and community education; and the scholarship of
teaching and learning in political science.
Bogdan Iancu is Associate Professor (Comparative Constitutional Law,
Constitutional Theory) at the Faculty of Political Science, University
of Bucharest. He holds a doctorate in law (summa cum laude) from the
Central European University (2006), and has researched at the faculties
of law of the University of Toronto and McGill University, the Yale Law
School, and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Iancu has lectured at McGill
University and Université de Montréal and held a Boulton Fellowship at
Contributors ix
McGill (2002–2004), Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship at the
University of Bremen Faculty of Law, and at the Faculty of Law of the
Humboldt University in Berlin (2008–2010).
Kriszta Kovács is Associate Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law at the
UNESCO Chair on Human Rights and Peace at ELTE University Faculty
of Social Sciences, Budapest. She is also a former Vice Dean at the Faculty,
a former Senior Adviser of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, and for-
mer Co-President of the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice (Venice
Commission, Council of Europe). She holds a PhD in Law from ELTE
University, Budapest and has held fellowships at the Human Rights Institute
of the Columbia Law School, New York, at the University of Trento, Italy,
at the University of Birmingham, UK, and from the UK Foreign Office and
the Zeit Stiftung. She is the author of Towards Equality: From the Ban on
Non-discrimination to Affirmative Action (L’Harmattan, 2012) and the co-
author of Constitution for a Disunited Nation: Hungary’s 2011 Fundamental
Law (CEU Press, 2011). Her recent book chapters include ‘Hungary’s Post-
Communist Administrative Law Regimes’ (with Kim Lane Scheppele, in
Comparative Administrative Law, eds. S.R. Ackermann and P.L. Lindseth,
Elgar, 2017). Lately, she has presented papers on constitutional transforma-
tions at various universities, such as the University of Oxford, Yale University,
Queens University, and Humboldt University.
Zoran Oklopcic is Associate Professor at Carleton University’s Department of
Law and Legal Studies. In the past, he was MacCormick Visiting Fellow at
the Edinburgh Law School, as well as a Visiting Scholar at the University
of Pompeu Fabra, Department of Political Science. He holds an LLM from
the Central European University, and earned his SJD from the University of
Toronto Faculty of Law. He has published in the areas of constitutional the-
ory, comparative constitutional law, and public international law. His work on
constituent power, self-determination, secession, and constitutional pluralism
has appeared in journals such as Constellations, Leiden Journal of International
Law, Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, Global Constitutionalism,
and Transnational Legal Theory. His current research focuses on the muta-
tion of self-determination discourse in Catalonia, as well as on the ‘duty to
negotiate federalization’ as a potential component in early-conflict constitu-
tion making. He also works on a larger book project, tentatively called ‘After
the People: Provincializing Constitutional Theory.’
Francesco Palermo is Professor for Comparative Constitutional Law at the
School of Law, University of Verona, and Director of the Institute for
Comparative Federalism at Eurac Research in Bolzano/Bozen. From 2007
to 2010, he served as Senior Legal Adviser to the OSCE High Commissioner
on National Minorities. From 2007 to 2016, he was member of the Council
of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities, of which he was the President from 2014
