Law and virtue in a post-sovereign “Commonwealth

” Neil MacCormick and the political theory of constitutional pluralism

Bibliographic Data

ID12923271
AuthorsHugo Canihac (0000-0003-4842-8383, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume17
Issue3
Pages531-552
Publication date2020-11-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of International Political Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-0882 • E-ISSN: 1755-1722
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1755088220975812
OpenAlexW3107809294
LanguageEN
References cited52

This paper reconstructs the political thought of the Scottish legal philosopher, and eventually MEP, Sir Neil MacCormick (1941–2009), the founder of “constitutional pluralism,” one of the most influential legal theories of the European union today. It argues that his legal theory is underpinned by a coherent and original political theory of post-sovereignty. But, contrary to many current interpretations, this article argues that normatively, constitutional pluralism is not a purely liberal theory. Neither is it inherently illiberal, as has been contended. Instead, this article spells out the hybrid institutional design imagined by N. MacCormick and inspired by the thought of D. Hume, as well as the lineaments of an ethical theory of post-sovereignty he developed. So doing, while I will argue that it ultimately leads to a kind of republican cosmopolitanism, the political theory of constitutional pluralism is shown to open up an important, if not fully developed, avenue to escape some shortcoming commonly associated with post-sovereignty

Commonwealth · Constitutional theory · Constitutionalism · Cosmopolitanism · Democracy · Epistemology · Law and economics · Pluralism (philosophy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Popular sovereignty · Sociology · Sovereignty · Virtue · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theology and Sovereignty

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