Decolonising European Constitution(alism): Perspectives from Malta
Public defence of PhD thesis by Jennifer Orlando-Salling.
This thesis interrogates European constitutionalism through the vantage point of Malta, a former British colony that gained independence in 1964 and joined the European Union in 2004. It does so through a collection of articles that narrate colonialism into EU legal studies.
Using postcolonial and decolonial approaches, the research examines how the afterlives of empire in the EU’s post-colonial periphery continue to shape both national constitutional development and the EU’s broader legal order.
Three central research questions guide the study: (1) how colonial legacies shaped and interacted with Malta’s constitutional development, particularly between 1921 and 2024; (2) how the afterlives of colonialism influence the functionality of the EU’s legal order, as seen from Malta’s perspective; and (3) how a decolonial approach might enable new forms of reckoning, redress, and conceptual reconstruction within EU legal studies.
This interdisciplinary socio-legal case study employs postcolonial and decolonial methodologies – still marginal in EU legal scholarship - and is rooted in extensive archival excavation. The work proceeds inductively, beginning with Malta’s constitutional trajectory, then analysing the implementation of EU digital regulation in the periphery, and finally reflecting more broadly on European society and belonging under Article 2 TEU.
The analysis unfolds in three stages, mirroring the decolonial approach: (i) excavation of Malta’s constitutional history through archival and contextual analysis from below, incorporating non-traditional sources; (ii) deconstruction of how EU law - particularly digital regulation – interacts with Maltese legal infrastructures, exposing structural asymmetries and core-periphery dynamics; and (iii) reconstruction, presenting a decolonial reimagining of European society and constitutionalism.
The thesis makes three main contributions. First, it re-historicises EU legal studies by foregrounding colonial legacies in the EU’s postcolonial periphery and highlighting the imperial amnesia embedded in its foundational narratives. Second, it provides an empirically grounded account of how colonial continuities shape law and governance in Malta, illuminating tensions between national sovereignty, EU membership, and constitutional identity. Third, it develops a decolonial lens for EU legal studies, showing how law functions as a narrational device that silences peripheral voices while claiming unity.
The findings challenge the prevailing view of EU constitutionalism as a pluralist, dialogical accommodation between national and supranational orders. Instead, it emerges as marked by structural dislocation, inequality, and exclusion. Decolonisation is revealed not as a completed historical event but as an unfinished process of excavation, deconstruction, and reconstruction. By writing Malta’s experience into Europe’s constitutional imagination, this work calls for a more inclusive, plural, and historically reflective legal order – one that recognises liminal perspectives, confronts imperial blindspots, and advances a self-critical, engaged constitutionalism.
Denne afhandling undersøger europæisk konstitutionalisme fra et Maltesisk perspektiv – en tidligere britisk koloni, der opnåede uafhængighed i 1964 og tiltrådte Den Europæiske Union i 2004.
Gennem en samling artikler forbindes kolonialismen med i EU-retlige studier. Med afsæt i postkoloniale og dekoloniale tilgange analyserer afhandlingen, hvordan imperiets efterliv i EU’s postkoloniale periferi fortsat præger både den nationale forfatningsudvikling og EU’s bredere retsorden.
Afhandlingen er styret af tre centrale forskningsspørgsmål: (1) hvordan den koloniale arv formede og interagerede med Maltas forfatningsmæssige udvikling, særligt i perioden 1921–2024; (2) hvordan kolonialismens efterliv påvirker EU’s retsorden set fra Maltas perspektiv; og (3) hvordan en dekolonial tilgang kan muliggøre nye former for afklaring, genopretning og begrebsmæssig genopbygning inden for EU-retlige studier.
Afhandlingen er et tværfagligt, retssociologisk casestudie, der anvender postkoloniale og dekoloniale metoder – som fortsat er marginale i EU-retsforskningen – og bygger på omfattende arkivmateriale og -undersøgelser. Arbejdet præsenteres induktivt: Først gennem Maltas forfatningsudvikling, dernæst gennem en analyse af implementeringen af EU’s digitale regulering i periferien, og til sidst gennem en bredere refleksion over det europæiske samfund og tilhørsforholdet under TEU artikel 2.
Analysen udfolder sig i tre faser, som afspejler den dekoloniale tilgang: (i) Afdækning af Maltas forfatningshistorie gennem arkiv- og kontekstuel analyse nedefra, med inddragelse af ikke-traditionelle kilder; (ii) dekonstruktion af hvordan EU-retten – især digital regulering – interagerer med Maltas retlige strukturer, hvilket blotlægger strukturelle asymmetrier og centrum–periferi-dynamikker; og (iii) rekonstruktion, hvor en dekolonial gentænkning af det europæiske samfund og konstitutionalisme præsenteres.
Afhandlingen yder tre centrale bidrag. For det første re-historiserer den EUretsforskningen ved at synliggøre kolonial arv i EU’s postkoloniale periferi og påpege den imperielle amnesi, der præger unionens grundlæggende narrativer. For det andet giver den en empirisk funderet analyse af, hvordan koloniale kontinuiteter former lovgivning og forvaltning i Malta, og hvordan de skaber spændinger mellem national suverænitet, EU-medlemskab og forfatningsidentitet. For det tredje udvikler den en dekolonial optik på EU-retsforskningen, der viser, hvordan retten fungerer som et narrativt redskab, der dæmper perifere stemmer, mens den hævder enhed.
Resultaterne udfordrer den gængse forståelse af EU-konstitutionalisme som et pluralistisk, dialogisk samspil mellem nationale og overnationale niveauer. I stedet fremstår den som præget af strukturel forskydning, ulighed og eksklusion. Afkolonisering blotlægges her ikke som en afsluttet historisk begivenhed, men som en uafsluttet proces af afdækning, dekonstruktion og rekonstruktion. Ved at skrive Maltas erfaring ind i Europas konstitutionelle forestilling, opfordrer afhandlingen til en mere inkluderende, pluralistisk og historisk reflekteret retsorden - en, der anerkender liminale perspektiver, konfronterer imperielle blinde vinkler og fremmer en selvkritisk, engageret konstitutionalisme.
Assessment committee
- Professor, Ulla Neergaard, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (Chair)
- Professor, Diamond Ashiagbor, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Professor, Thomas Poole, London School of Economics, United Kingdom
Supervisor
- Professor Henrik Palmer Olsen, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
A copy of the thesis can be ordered from phd-forsvar@jur.ku.dk.
The defence will be held in English.
Registration
Registration and link: phd-forsvar@jur.ku.dk
Deadline for registration: 15 January 2026 at 12:00
When registering, you will receive a link to the PhD defence the day before the defence at the email address you provide.