Johan Van Der Walt
Biographic Data
| ID | 4012355 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Johan Van Der Walt |
| GIVEN NAMES | Johan |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Der Walt |
| SIGNATURE | VAN DER WALT J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Luxembourg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6747-8752 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Sovereignty across generations
The Rawlsian conception of constituent power in Alessandro Ferrara’s Sovereignty Across Generations is burdened by a deep contradiction that renders the central argument in the book highly questionable. On the one hand, Rawls is (correctly in my view) presented as the thinker that confronted contemporary political theory with the problem of divisive pluralism. On the other hand, Rawls is also presented (incorrectly in my view) as the thinker who …
Rawls, Habermas and Liberal Democratic Law
The theoretical undertakings of both Rawls and Habermas pivot on an aspiration to explain (and surely to promote through explanation) the Enlightenment ideal of reason reflected in the idea of liberal democracy. The thoughts developed in my book The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law (2020, CLDL hereafter) pivot on the same aspiration. What obviously distinguishes the theoretical undertaking in CLDL from those of Habermas and Rawls, is the greater…
Recht, Poesie und liberale Demokratie
Breaking Up the Unity of the World
This short article on Peter Fitzpatrick’s conception of “responsive law” analyzes the ambiguous temporality that Fitzpatrick discerned in modern law. On the one hand, law makes the claim of being fully present and therefore already and completely contained in itself. This aspect of law reflects the law’s claim to “immanence,” that is, its claim of always being able to rely strictly on its own operational terms without having to take recourse to a…
The Romantic Allure of Old Europe
peer reviewed
Concept of Liberal Democratic Law
Irresponsible Ordoliberalism and the Imperialistic Fantasy that we all Might Become Good Germans One Day
When One Religious Extremism Unmasks Another
This intervention explores the extent to which the technocratic de-hermeneutisation of European political economical thinking, of which the ordoliberal economic principles of the Freiburg school in Economics are a key ingredient - may be contributing to the social conditions under which religious radicalisation typically takes place, or may at least be failing to provide significant responses on the basis of which religious radicalisation can be …
Constitutional Sovereignty and Social Solidarity in Europe
The Literary Exception
The concern with stabilising the political and avoiding the excessive deployments of coercive force by totalitarian political imaginations is usually associated with political liberalism and liberal political theory. It is rarely associated with political theology and conceptions of sovereignty that are based on political theology. The unique contribution of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben to contemporary political theory is the opportuni…
Vertical Sovereignty, Horizontal Constitutionalism, Subterranean Capitalism
This article engages with Andrew Arato's post-sovereign model of constitution-making. It does so with specific reference to Arato's claim that the South African constitutionmaking process constituted a 'perfection' of the post-sovereign model. It investigates this claim against the background of sceptical perspectives on the South African constitutionmaking process, especially those perspectives that view the South African transition and constitu…
Constitution-Making as a Learning Process
In May 2009 the Law School of the University of Glasgow held a Workshop on Constitution-Making. The decision to hold the workshop issued from correspondence between Andrew Arato and me about his positive assessment of the South African constitution-making process as the perfection of the new two-staged method of constitution-making which he characterises with two key terms: 'post sovereign constitution-making' and 'constitution-making as a learni…
Rawls and Derrida on the Historicity of Constitutional Democracy and International Justice
Immimanence; Law's Language Lesson
This article aims to illuminate the fundamental problems of law and jurisprudence with reference to the fundamental tension between the immanence and imminence of language. The irreducible tension between the immanence and imminence of language constitutes the complex interface between language and itself, or between the two fundamental linguistic modes through which language becomes language. The article economically refers to this complex inter…
Interrupting the Myth of the Partage
Horizontal Application of Fundamental Rights and the Threshold of the Law in View of the Carmichele Saga
Is there a fundamental gap between the common law of delict and the fundamental rights embodied in the Constitution? This is the assertion of Chetty J in Carmichele v Minister of Safety and Security , anassertion that this article disputes. The hiatus between common law and constitutional law to which Chetty J refers does not lie between the substantive common law principles of delict and constitutional law. It lies between the common law princip…
Progressive Indirect Horizontal Application of the Bill of Rights
This article addresses the widespread perception that there is a rivalry between the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the Supreme Court of Appeal through an analysis of decisions relating to the horizontal application of rights in the interim and 1996 Constitutions. Beginning with an exposition of the doctrinal stance in favour of indirect horizontal application in Du Plessis v De Klerk 1996 (3) SA 850 (CC) (the leading case under the int…
Democracy and Rights in South Africa
The Literary Exception
The concern with stabilising the political and avoiding the excessive deployments of coercive force by totalitarian political imaginations is usually associated with political liberalism and liberal political theory. It is rarely associated with political theology and conceptions of sovereignty that are based on political theology. The unique contribution of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben to contemporary political theory is the opportuni…
When One Religious Extremism Unmasks Another
This intervention explores the extent to which the technocratic de-hermeneutisation of European political economical thinking, of which the ordoliberal economic principles of the Freiburg school in Economics are a key ingredient - may be contributing to the social conditions under which religious radicalisation typically takes place, or may at least be failing to provide significant responses on the basis of which religious radicalisation can be …
Interrupting the Myth of the Partage
Progressive Indirect Horizontal Application of the Bill of Rights
This article addresses the widespread perception that there is a rivalry between the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the Supreme Court of Appeal through an analysis of decisions relating to the horizontal application of rights in the interim and 1996 Constitutions. Beginning with an exposition of the doctrinal stance in favour of indirect horizontal application in Du Plessis v De Klerk 1996 (3) SA 850 (CC) (the leading case under the int…
Democracy and Rights in South Africa
Progressive Indirect Horizontal Application of the Bill of Rights
This article addresses the widespread perception that there is a rivalry between the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the Supreme Court of Appeal through an analysis of decisions relating to the horizontal application of rights in the interim and 1996 Constitutions. Beginning with an exposition of the doctrinal stance in favour of indirect horizontal application in Du Plessis v De Klerk 1996 (3) SA 850 (CC) (the leading case under the int…
Horizontal Application of Fundamental Rights and the Threshold of the Law in View of the Carmichele Saga
Is there a fundamental gap between the common law of delict and the fundamental rights embodied in the Constitution? This is the assertion of Chetty J in Carmichele v Minister of Safety and Security , anassertion that this article disputes. The hiatus between common law and constitutional law to which Chetty J refers does not lie between the substantive common law principles of delict and constitutional law. It lies between the common law princip…
Interrupting the Myth of the Partage
Immimanence; Law's Language Lesson
This article aims to illuminate the fundamental problems of law and jurisprudence with reference to the fundamental tension between the immanence and imminence of language. The irreducible tension between the immanence and imminence of language constitutes the complex interface between language and itself, or between the two fundamental linguistic modes through which language becomes language. The article economically refers to this complex inter…
Rawls and Derrida on the Historicity of Constitutional Democracy and International Justice
Vertical Sovereignty, Horizontal Constitutionalism, Subterranean Capitalism
This article engages with Andrew Arato's post-sovereign model of constitution-making. It does so with specific reference to Arato's claim that the South African constitutionmaking process constituted a 'perfection' of the post-sovereign model. It investigates this claim against the background of sceptical perspectives on the South African constitutionmaking process, especially those perspectives that view the South African transition and constitu…
Constitution-Making as a Learning Process
In May 2009 the Law School of the University of Glasgow held a Workshop on Constitution-Making. The decision to hold the workshop issued from correspondence between Andrew Arato and me about his positive assessment of the South African constitution-making process as the perfection of the new two-staged method of constitution-making which he characterises with two key terms: 'post sovereign constitution-making' and 'constitution-making as a learni…
Constitutional Sovereignty and Social Solidarity in Europe
The Literary Exception
The concern with stabilising the political and avoiding the excessive deployments of coercive force by totalitarian political imaginations is usually associated with political liberalism and liberal political theory. It is rarely associated with political theology and conceptions of sovereignty that are based on political theology. The unique contribution of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben to contemporary political theory is the opportuni…
When One Religious Extremism Unmasks Another
This intervention explores the extent to which the technocratic de-hermeneutisation of European political economical thinking, of which the ordoliberal economic principles of the Freiburg school in Economics are a key ingredient - may be contributing to the social conditions under which religious radicalisation typically takes place, or may at least be failing to provide significant responses on the basis of which religious radicalisation can be …
Irresponsible Ordoliberalism and the Imperialistic Fantasy that we all Might Become Good Germans One Day
Concept of Liberal Democratic Law
Breaking Up the Unity of the World
This short article on Peter Fitzpatrick’s conception of “responsive law” analyzes the ambiguous temporality that Fitzpatrick discerned in modern law. On the one hand, law makes the claim of being fully present and therefore already and completely contained in itself. This aspect of law reflects the law’s claim to “immanence,” that is, its claim of always being able to rely strictly on its own operational terms without having to take recourse to a…
The Romantic Allure of Old Europe
peer reviewed
Recht, Poesie und liberale Demokratie
Rawls, Habermas and Liberal Democratic Law
The theoretical undertakings of both Rawls and Habermas pivot on an aspiration to explain (and surely to promote through explanation) the Enlightenment ideal of reason reflected in the idea of liberal democracy. The thoughts developed in my book The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law (2020, CLDL hereafter) pivot on the same aspiration. What obviously distinguishes the theoretical undertaking in CLDL from those of Habermas and Rawls, is the greater…
Sovereignty across generations
The Rawlsian conception of constituent power in Alessandro Ferrara’s Sovereignty Across Generations is burdened by a deep contradiction that renders the central argument in the book highly questionable. On the one hand, Rawls is (correctly in my view) presented as the thinker that confronted contemporary political theory with the problem of divisive pluralism. On the other hand, Rawls is also presented (incorrectly in my view) as the thinker who …
Sociology (15 works) · Political science (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Law (9 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Democracy (5 works) · Legal Issues in South Africa (5 works) · Political Theology and Sovereignty (5 works)