The emergence and change of constitutional orders in comparison

Project manager: Prof. Dr. Günter Frankenberg

The project was guided by the question of how constitutional orders emerge and change. The focus was on the problem of constitutional transfer, in particular its conditions, risks and side effects, which become apparent in the recontextualization of constitutional norms, institutions, arguments and practices. In addition, the comparative analysis focused on which constitutional “items” proved to be resistant to transfer and for what reasons.

As a result of the research work, a bifurcation emerged with regard to transfer suitability: While a large number and variety of constitutional norms, institutions, doctrines and practices could be adjusted to the “global constitution” through forms of transfer, certain items proved to be resistant to transfer. The reasons for this have hardly been investigated by scholars to date and will be the focus of the next research section. It can be assumed that the lack of suitability for transfer may have historical, cultural or political reasons that are insufficiently explained by context dependence and/or subversiveness with regard to the dominant liberal paradigm of constitutionalism.

The transfer theory was discussed in September 2011 in a workshop with international participation. As a result of this workshop in particular, certain problem areas were identified that need to be considered in further research: on the one hand, it was shown that more attention needs to be paid to the “odd details” that cannot – at least not without constraint – be incorporated into a “global constitution”. In addition, processes of decontextualization were identified as a relevant phenomenon that requires further investigation. Finally, it was shown that the comparison of constitutions lacks investigations into the carriers of transfer processes that “supply” the global reservoir.

The results were published in the volume Günter Frankenberg (ed.) (2013):Order from Transfer. Comparative Constitutional Design and Legal Culture Cheltenham (UK)/Northampton (MA): E. Elgar Publishing. In this volume, the project leader has published his research in the theoretical introduction “Constitutions as commodities: notes on a theory of transfer” (1-28) and on constitutional experimentalism in nineteenth-century Europe “Constitutional transfers and experiments in the nineteenth century” (279-305).