Symbolic Constitutionalization

The subject of this book is the social and political meaning of constitutional texts to the detriment of their legal concretization. Focusing on the discrepancy between the hypertrophically symbolic function of constitutions and their insufficient legal concretization, it offers a critical counterpoint to constitutional theory that treats constitutional texts as a panacea to solving political, legal, and social problems. In contrast to the premises of Niklas Luhmann's systems theory regarding law and constitution in world's society, symbolic constitutionalization is approached here in both a comprehensive and far-reaching perspective. Chapter 1 sets out the debate about symbolic legislation. Chapter 2 explains the notion of symbolic constitutionalization as a problem embracing the whole legal system. Chapter 3 approaches the issue in terms of allopoiesis of law, characterizing it primarily as a problem in peripheral modernity and referring to the Brazilian experience. The final chapter discusses the tendency to a symbolic constitutionalization of world society in the scope of a paradoxical peripheralization of the centre.

Auteur

Marcelo Neves received his LLB and LLM in Brazil, and in 1991 was awarded the Dr. Jur. degree at the University of Bremen Law School, in Germany (Grant of DAAD). In 2000 he was awarded the 'Habilitation' (postdoctoral degree) at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Marcelo is currently Full Professor of Public Law at the University of Brasília, in Brazil, appointed as of July 2011. Beyond several visiting appointments at German universities, he was also a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford; Yale Law School; University of Glasgow; LSE; European University Institute (Florence); Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (South Africa).