Postnational constitutionalism and the challenge of contested multilateralism

Julia Morse and Robert Keohane’s recently minted idea of ‘contested multilateralism’ (Morse and Keohane 2014) is not directly addressed to those interested in the kind of theory and practice of constitutionalism beyond the state (‘postnational constitutionalism’ for short) that the journal Global Constitutionalism has made its mission to map and encourage. Yet contested multiculturalism deserves the close attention of this journal’s readers and contributors for providing a novel account of the dynamics of growth in precisely the kinds of international and transnational institutions that they have sought to conceptualise in constitutional terms. It is my argument that, through this novel account, contested multilateralism offers both a serious challenge and qualified encouragement to postnational constitutionalism, and that we only appreciate the full value of its approach if we hold both of these perspectives – critical and constructive – together.