Post-constituent Constitutionalism? The case of the European Union

This chapter considers the general question of the relationship between constituent power and constitutional form in the context of new or shifting non-state political configurations, and specifically in the case of the constitionalization of the European Union. It examines four hypotheses on the concept of a European constituent power: non-constituent constitutionalism, constitutional scepticism, constitutional vindication, and a post-constituent constitutionalism that, unlike the others, recognizes the initial absence of a supranational constituent power but insists upon both the value and the plausibility of its subsequent development. The chapter develops a position in defence of such a post-constituent constitutionalism — one that nurtures at least some ‘constituent’ qualities without undermining the continuing constituent authority of states.