Varieties of Constitutionalism: Towards Perspectivism?

The premise of this paper is that no analysis of constitutionalism can separate radically international from domestic legal orders. The diffusion of norms and practices across legal orders implies that constitutional elements either circulate from one system to the other or exercise some degree of influence on the developments of norms in other systems. In light of this, the argument of this paper is that we may distinguish six ideal-types: legal, political, identitarian, societal, transformative and democratic constitutionalism. Each of these ideal-types has developed within the State and can be classified according to the combination of constitutional and democratic claims. The question is to what extent it is possible to employ them in the debate on the future of both global and domestic constitutionalism: are they facets of the same phenomenon, or entirely irreconcilable perspectives? A seventh form is illustrated, i.e. communal constitutionalism, as a possible way forward in the debate.