Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today? On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review

Standard

Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today? On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary. / Komárek, Jan.

European Constitutional Imaginaries: Between Ideology and Utopia. ed. / Jan Komárek. Oxford University Press, 2023. p. 119-146.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Komárek, J 2023, Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today? On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary. in J Komárek (ed.), European Constitutional Imaginaries: Between Ideology and Utopia. Oxford University Press, pp. 119-146. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192855480.003.0006

APA

Komárek, J. (2023). Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today? On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary. In J. Komárek (Ed.), European Constitutional Imaginaries: Between Ideology and Utopia (pp. 119-146). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192855480.003.0006

Vancouver

Komárek J. Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today? On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary. In Komárek J, editor, European Constitutional Imaginaries: Between Ideology and Utopia. Oxford University Press. 2023. p. 119-146 https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192855480.003.0006

Author

Komárek, Jan. / Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today? On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary. European Constitutional Imaginaries: Between Ideology and Utopia. editor / Jan Komárek. Oxford University Press, 2023. pp. 119-146

Bibtex

@inbook{72d244e209a14ad08c164dff52c4bc71,
title = "Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today?: On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary",
abstract = "This article argues that reading Joseph Weiler{\textquoteright}s The Transformation of Europe can enhance our understanding of the limits of liberal constitutional imaginary on which Transformation builds, and which it helped to establish in the 1990s. Now, when {\textquoteleft}Western liberalism{\textquoteright} is in retreat, such critical reading may be indispensable for those who seek alternatives. The chapter is structured as follows: it briefly defines the concept of {\textquoteleft}constitutional imaginary{\textquoteright}, then provides a brief genealogy of Transformation and offers a critical reading of the whole essay, which prepares the ground for an outline of Transformation{\textquoteright}s constitutional imaginary based on liberal-legalist ideology combined with a communitarian utopia. It is shown how each of them contradicts the other, but at the same time none can exist without the other. The chapter then reveals what Transformation (and its imaginary) hides from sight: how its rendering of European integration{\textquoteright}s history, reduced to the narrative of Europe{\textquoteright}s founding fathers{\textquoteright} reflective choice for Europe, and the ignorance of political economy overlooks the complex and complicated histories of the states that came to form the Union. The conclusion finally connects these findings to the current issues facing the EU and liberal constitutionalism as such.",
author = "Jan Kom{\'a}rek",
year = "2023",
doi = "10.1093/oso/9780192855480.003.0006",
language = "English",
isbn = " 9780192855480",
pages = "119--146",
editor = "Jan Kom{\'a}rek",
booktitle = "European Constitutional Imaginaries",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
address = "United Kingdom",

}

RIS

TY - CHAP

T1 - Why Read The Transformation of Europe Today?

T2 - On the Limits of a Liberal Constitutional Imaginary

AU - Komárek, Jan

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - This article argues that reading Joseph Weiler’s The Transformation of Europe can enhance our understanding of the limits of liberal constitutional imaginary on which Transformation builds, and which it helped to establish in the 1990s. Now, when ‘Western liberalism’ is in retreat, such critical reading may be indispensable for those who seek alternatives. The chapter is structured as follows: it briefly defines the concept of ‘constitutional imaginary’, then provides a brief genealogy of Transformation and offers a critical reading of the whole essay, which prepares the ground for an outline of Transformation’s constitutional imaginary based on liberal-legalist ideology combined with a communitarian utopia. It is shown how each of them contradicts the other, but at the same time none can exist without the other. The chapter then reveals what Transformation (and its imaginary) hides from sight: how its rendering of European integration’s history, reduced to the narrative of Europe’s founding fathers’ reflective choice for Europe, and the ignorance of political economy overlooks the complex and complicated histories of the states that came to form the Union. The conclusion finally connects these findings to the current issues facing the EU and liberal constitutionalism as such.

AB - This article argues that reading Joseph Weiler’s The Transformation of Europe can enhance our understanding of the limits of liberal constitutional imaginary on which Transformation builds, and which it helped to establish in the 1990s. Now, when ‘Western liberalism’ is in retreat, such critical reading may be indispensable for those who seek alternatives. The chapter is structured as follows: it briefly defines the concept of ‘constitutional imaginary’, then provides a brief genealogy of Transformation and offers a critical reading of the whole essay, which prepares the ground for an outline of Transformation’s constitutional imaginary based on liberal-legalist ideology combined with a communitarian utopia. It is shown how each of them contradicts the other, but at the same time none can exist without the other. The chapter then reveals what Transformation (and its imaginary) hides from sight: how its rendering of European integration’s history, reduced to the narrative of Europe’s founding fathers’ reflective choice for Europe, and the ignorance of political economy overlooks the complex and complicated histories of the states that came to form the Union. The conclusion finally connects these findings to the current issues facing the EU and liberal constitutionalism as such.

U2 - 10.1093/oso/9780192855480.003.0006

DO - 10.1093/oso/9780192855480.003.0006

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9780192855480

SP - 119

EP - 146

BT - European Constitutional Imaginaries

A2 - Komárek, Jan

PB - Oxford University Press

ER -

ID: 338992762