Transnational Constitutionalism, Discursive Pluralism, and Constitutional Resistance

European political leaders, such as Martin Schulz in November 2017, frequently invoke the need for a Constitution of Europe. In the same month as Schulz’s proposal, the European Commission initiated the so-called Article 7 procedure against Poland because of the latter’s infringement of fundamental European values. It seems clear that even more than a decade after the failed attempt to adopt a European political constitution, constitutionalism is still a highly visible and contested dimension in the European, transnational arena. It is hence no surprise that the constitutionalization of European and transnational law is a well-developed field of scholarly research and debate, not least in an extensive, even if now somewhat diminished, debate on constitutional pluralism. Within these debates, there is, however, relatively little attention paid to the role of civil society and social movements in engaging with transnational constitutional developments. My claim in this chapter is that a more systematic attention to European civil society is, however, necessary for at least four reasons. First, it seems difficult to deny that representative democracies are suffering from the problem of democratic fatigue or “post-democracy”.