This book provides new insights based on perspectives from Member States such as Germany and Italy as well as the Nordic Countries. It also deals with European legal and philosophical heritage in general, as well as special issues like closer cooperation among 'Core States' and the role of the Court of Justice in recent EC law development.

This book analyses the problem of the possibility of guaranteeing the constitutionality of law in cases when a constitutional court either has been weakened or does not exist. A starting point of the research is the emergence of the so-called illiberal constitutionalism in several states, namely Poland, Hungary and Turkey, as this phenomenon gravely affects the functioning of constitutional courts. The work is divided into three parts. The first contains contributions of a theoretical nature dedicated to the current shape of constitutional review, in particular in the light of the emergence of "illiberal constitutionalism". This part of the book also deals with the collapse of the centralised constitutional review in Poland and the attempts to resolve the constitutional crisis. The second is focused on discussing specific, current problems with constitutional review, on the basis of states such as Hungary, Romania, Turkey and Poland. The third relates to other forms of constitutional review, that is, the so-called dispersed model and the parliamentary one executed in the course of the legislative process. The contributions discuss such forms of constitutional review in the Netherlands and Finland. The book will be a valuable resource for students, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of constitutional law and politics.

In the complicated legal and political situation that reigns in Europe at the moment, characterized not at least by the uncertainty of what happens with the proposed EU constitution after negative results in the French and Dutch referendums in 2005, it has become increasingly important to analyse the EU constitutional frameworks from historical and comparative perspectives. This book provides new insights based on perspectives from Member States such as Germany and Italy as well as the Nordic Countries. It also deals with European legal and philosophical heritage in general, as well as special issues like closer cooperation among ‘Core States’ and the role of the Court of Justice in recent EC law development. It is of interest both for legal practitioners and scholars as well as students of political science and history.

Through critical analysis of case law in European and national courts, this book reveals the significant role courts play in the protection of privacy and personal data within the new technological environment. It addresses the pressing question from a public who are increasingly aware of their privacy rights in a world of continual technological advances – namely, what can I do if my data privacy rights are breached?

This two-volume book, published open access, brings together leading scholars of constitutional law from twenty-nine European countries to revisit the role of national constitutions at a time when decision-making has increasingly shifted to the European and transnational level. It offers important insights into three areas. First, it explores how constitutions reflect the transfer of powers from domestic to European and global institutions. Secondly, it revisits substantive constitutional values, such as the protection of constitutional rights, the rule of law, democratic participation and constitutional review, along with constitutional court judgments that tackle the protection of these rights and values in the transnational context, e.g. with regard to the Data Retention Directive, the European Arrest Warrant, the ESM Treaty, and EU and IMF austerity measures. The responsiveness of the ECJ regarding the above rights and values, along with the standard of protection, is also assessed. Thirdly, challenges in the context of global governance in relation to judicial review, democratic control and accountability are examined. On a broader level, the contributors were also invited to reflect on what has increasingly been described as the erosion or ‘twilight’ of constitutionalism, or a shift to a thin version of the rule of law, democracy and judicial review in the context of Europeanisation and globalisation processes. The national reports are complemented by a separately published comparative study, which identifies a number of broader trends and challenges that are shared across several Member States and warrant wider discussion. The research for this publication and the comparative study were carried out within the framework of the ERC-funded project ‘The Role and Future of National Constitutions in European and Global Governance’. The book is aimed at scholars, researchers, judges and legal advisors working on the interface between national constitutional law and EU and transnational law. The extradition cases are also of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of criminal law. Anneli Albi is Professor of European Law at the University of Kent, United Kingdom. Samo Bardutzky is Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Judicial Cosmopolitanism: The Use of Foreign Law in Contemporary Constitutional Systems offers a detailed account of the use of foreign law by supreme and constitutional Courts of Europe, America and East Asia. The individual contributions highlight the ways in which the use of foreign law is carried out by the individual courts and the path that led the various Courts to recognize the relevance, for the purpose of the decision, to foreign law. The authors try to highlight reasons and types of the more and more frequent circulation of foreign precedents in the case law of most high courts. At the same time, they show the importance of this practice in the so-called neo constitutionalism.

This book accounts for the content and negotiation of the EU's Constitutional Treaty of 2004 as well as the failure of ratification of the treaty in France and the Netherlands in 2005. It discusses the implications of the abandonment of the treaty for the process of European integration and our understanding of that process.

This collection documents, analyses, and reflects on the Icelandic constitutional reform between 2009 and 2017. It offers a unique insight into this process by providing first-hand accounts of its different stages and core issues. Its 12 substantive chapters are written by the main actors in the reform, including the Chair of the Constitutional Council that drafted the 2011 Proposal for a New Constitution. Part I opens with an address by the President of the Republic and positions the constitutional reform in its full complexity and longer-term perspective, going beyond the frequent portrayal of that process in international discussion as being solely a result of the 2008 financial crisis. Part II offers a nuanced and contextualised reflection on Iceland’s innovative approach to consultation and drafting involving lay participants, including its twenty-first-century digital take on ‘the people,’ which attracted international attention as ‘crowdsourcing.’ Part III analyses the main constitutional amendment proposals, and focuses on natural resources and environmental protection, which lie at the heart of Iceland’s identity. The final part reflects on the reform’s wider significance and includes an interview with the current Prime Minister, who is now taking the reform forward. The volume provides a basis for reflection on a groundbreaking constitutional reform in a democratic context. This long and complex process has challenged and transformed the ways in which constitutional change can be approached, and the collection is an invitation to discuss further the practical and theoretical dimensions of Iceland’s experience and their far-reaching implications.

This volume analyses the social and political forces that influence constitutions and the process of constitution making. It combines theoretical perspectives on the social and political foundations of constitutions with a range of detailed case studies from nineteen countries. In the first part leading scholars analyse and develop a range of theoretical perspectives, including constitutions as coordination devices, mission statements, contracts, products of domestic power play, transnational documents, and as reflection of the will of the people. In the second part these theories are examined through in-depth case studies of the social and political foundations of constitutions in countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Japan, Romania, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Israel, Argentina and others. The result is a multidimensional study of constitutions as social phenomena and their interaction with other social phenomena.

Investigating the extent to which the European Union can be defined as a "highly competitive social market economy", this edited collection illustrates and tests the constitutional reverberations of Art. 3(3) of the Treaty on the European Union, and discusses its actual and potential transformative effect. In the aftermath of Brexit, and in the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the book is particularly timely and topical, offering new and deeper insights on the complex and constantly evolving social dimension of the EU, ultimately reflecting on how the objective of (re)constituting the EU as a "highly competitive social market economy" might best be achieved.