This paper seeks to synthesise two concerns which are usually discussed separately One concerns the much discussed democracy deficit of the European polity. In this respect, it is considered that the democratic quality of the EU needs to be discussed in conjunction with Europe’s potential to...

The language of common European constitutional identity is distinguishable from that of common European constitutional traditions in that the former does not focus so centrally on the past, and is independent of the legal doctrinal language of the EU law. When discussing constitutional identity,...

In this paper we advance the argument that, under certain socio-political and cognitive conditions, the manifestation of religion in the opinion-oriented public spheres can have an inherent value for democratic life. However, it is only after processes of selective interpretation and...

Legal and political science cannot merge, but they should, at the very least, listen to each other. This working paper is a further step in an ongoing interdisciplinary cooperation which seeks to make sense out of Louis Henkin’s famous admonition. This co-operation had begun with a research...

Soon after the accession of eight post-communist States from Central and Eastern Europe to the EU, the constitutional courts of some of these countries questioned the principle of supremacy of EU law over national constitutional systems, on the basis of their being the guardians of national...

This paper considers the dynamics of migration of constitutional ideas in the context of the gradually "constitutionalizing" EU, and in particular the advent of a first documentary Constitution shape new (and as yet unratified) Constitutional Treaty 2004. normal, profound, complexities tracking...

In textbooks and in theory, law is a product of democratic procedures. In reality, however, theplace of law production has moved to a significant degree from the domestic sphere into an emerging domain of supranational and international institutions, bodies, and organizations,public or private,...

This paper claims that the intuitive and widespread legitimating power of majority rule (MR)arises from the link between majority rule and the principle of equality of political opportunity. The egalitarian character of MR is established by exploring puzzles indemocratic theory, such as the...