A Political-Sociological Analysis of Constitutional Pluralism in Europe

The original constitutional moment of the early 2000s has faltered not least due to a popular rejection of the European Draft Constitution in the referenda held in France and the Netherlands in 2005. The rejection has been widely discussed in terms of the process (the Convention, referenda) as well as the constitutional product (the draft Constitution), but there has been relatively little political-sociologically informed analysis that links constitutional politics with political activities beyond formal institutions. The chapter attempts to contribute to a political sociology of European constitutional politics, which takes into account a plurality of constitutional subjects, emphasizes the interaction between law, politics, and society, and underlines the importance of civic constitutional engagement. First, I will discuss constitution-making in the EU context from a theoretical perspective, contrasting different understandings of constitutionalism with regard to relations between law and democratic politics (discussing statist, freestanding or universalist, and democratic constitutionalism). In a second step, I will outline a political sociology of constitutional politics that builds on but also goes beyond the theoretical debate. Third, I will draw attention to and concisely analyze a number of constitutional claims that have emerged in the transnational public arena, endorsed by transnational pro-democracy movements. These movements indicate both an emerging transnational, constitutional public debate and provide substantive examples of different understandings of constitutionalism on the European level.