What Is at Stake in the Global Constitutionalism Debate?

Abstract

Ruling the World? Constitutionalism, International Law, and Global Governance. Edited by Jeffrey L. Dunoff, Joel P. Trachtman New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 414 pp., $38.99 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-0-521-73549-0). International legal scholarship, the editors of this volume tell us, is possessed of a current fascination with things constitutional: an intensification of constitutional discourse at sites of transnational governance (in which international law as a whole or specific international regimes are described using constitutional language); empirical and normative exploration of international constitutions , or at least the constitution-like features of certain regime-specific multilateral treaties; the advancement of international constitutional debates (Can, or should, constitutionalism be taken beyond the state? What can the idea of constitutionalism add to governance beyond the state?); and patterns of constitutionalization within the structures and processes of global governance. In its entry to the fray, this dense and sophisticated, though somewhat unfocused, collection of essays by scholars of international law from Europe and the United States exemplifies the complex diversity of perspectives on and questions raised by this recent constitutional turn. Taken as a compendium of current international legal thinking on constitutionalism and the variety of concerns and approaches this concept raises for grappling with the puzzles of global governance, institutional efficacy, and democratic legitimacy in international law, this is a wide-ranging, cutting-edge, and highly recommended contribution. On the downside, Ruling the World? lacks a coherent theoretical or organizational frame. Taken as a whole, the volume offers no clear statement of what is at stake in these debates, nor does it articulate (this is not to say resolve) divisions in the literature as helpfully as one might hope. The book is organized into three sections. …