Constitutionalism in Postwar Europe: Revolutionary or Counter-Revolutionary?
25 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2022
Date Written: November 17, 2022
Abstract
What kind of constitution-making predominates in the core of postwar Europe? In a recent book, Bruce Ackerman argues that there are three pathways to constitutionalism - the elite, the revolutionary and the establishment - and that two core European countries, France and Italy, both pursued a ‘revolutionary path’ after the Second World War. But he also concludes that an elitist (German) model comes to dominate in the European Union as a whole. This paper concurs with the concluding claim, but argues that when considered over the longue durée, postwar constitutionalism in France and Italy was elitist from the outset and, in significant respects, counter-revolutionary in the direction of constitutional travel.
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