Reply: States with constitutions, constitutions without states, and democracy - Skeptical reflections on Scheuerman’s skeptical reflection

Abstract

Let me first thank Bill Scheuerman for his long and rich argument on my different considerations of global and European constitutionalism and democracy. It was an inspiring reading, and I have learnt a lot by it. I agree with most of his basic assumptions, and even with some of his more critical remarks. Here, I will first take the opportunity to make some revisions and clarify some conceptual misunderstandings. I will then make some additional remarks on my theoretical framework, and the ideas of law and constitution which are fundamental for it. In the last section I discuss again the issue of state and constitution about which Scheuerman and I already had a short controversy in Constellations last year.1 This time, however, I will discuss the development of modern society in a broader historical, or evolutionary, perspective.

Keywords: state; world state; monopoly of power; co-evolution; nation; national identity; territory; cituzenship; modern society

(Published: 10 March 2009)

Citation: Ethics & Global Politics. DOI: 10.3402/egp.v2i1.1940