ICON S Conference 17 – 19 June 2016 Humboldt University Berlin

5 REGIONAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL
STRUCTURES IN TENSION
The aim of this panel is to interrogate possible tensions
and interactions between regional organizations and
constitutional law. Here, particular attention is paid to the
increased prominence of constitutional language at the
regional level. The project intends to unravel the power
dimensions behind the dynamics of such constitutional
discourses, including asking questions about its productive
and representational qualities. A comparative approach
is adopted where different regional organizations
will be considered. Participants will be asked to reflect
on the constitutional dynamics within different regions
from a comparative and theoretical perspective. The key
point of discussion will be the extent that constitutional
frameworks of regional organizations reflect the existing
power dimensions in the region. This articulation should
be analyzed looking not only at the constitutional discourse
at the regional level, but also at its interferences
with the national constitutional level.
Participants Micha Wiebusch
Pola Cebulak
Christopher May
Maksim Karliuk
Tom Daly
Name of Chair Damjan Kukovec
Room UL6 3119
Micha Wiebusch and Pola Cebulak: Regional
and Constitutional Structures in Tension –
Framing Paper
Regional constitutionalism is a concept used to reflect
upon tensions within the constitutional structures of
regional organizations as well as upon interactions between
the regional and national constitutional structures.
The paper is aimed at providing a theoretical framework
for addressing the following research questions in the
context of regional integration: What role does the law
perform in the establishment and development of regional
constitutionalism? What are the mechanisms
through which “constitutionalism” is discursively and
materially produced at the regional level? To what extent
are the power structures reflected in the emerging
constitutionalization of regional organizations? The
framework adopts a balanced approach, which pays
attention to the particularities of regional integration in
different parts of the world and explores possibilities of
an epistemological break with the globalized Westerncentric
conceptual frameworks of constitutionalism.
Christopher May: What we mean when we talk
about the rule of law: The rule of law, regional
organisations and constitutional politics
In contemporary global politics there can be few
more popular norms than the rule of law. Appeals are
frequently made to democracy and human rights by
Concurring panels 31
global leaders and political activists: alongside these
appeals, the rule of law has become almost universal
in its invocation, despite much less agreement about
what it might entail and its effective implementation.
As I will argue in this paper, we cannot understand the
political efficacy and appeal of regional constitutional
organisation without also understanding the underlying
role of the rule of law norm as a (potentially) universal
common-sense. Indeed, across the political spectrum
the rule of law has become an important touchstone for
contemporary global politics. My question here is: what
political processes have established the normativity of
law (the rule of law) as a legitimate and authoritative
underpinning for regional organisational constitutions
especially when such organisations are focused on economic
development?
Maksim Karliuk: The Constitutional Framework
of Power Distribution within the Eurasian
Integration Process
After the fall of the Soviet Union, most post-Soviet
countries pursued integration among themselves, which
was fast in creating new institutions, but was slow and
ineffective in making them work. The Eurasian Economic
Union (EAEU) is a new international organization of regional
economic integration with proactive ambitions
to follow best EU practices, including introduction of
supranational elements. However, the existence of a hegemon
in the region brings about a power balance challenge,
which makes all relevant stakeholders protective
of constitutional legal orders on different levels, albeit
for dissimilar reasons and via different means. This research
unpacks the legal changes that accompany the
creation of the new organization in order to understand
the relation of the EAEU’s constitutional framework and
power distribution within the post-Soviet region in the
framework of a clash of legal and political structures.
Tom Daly: The Democratic Recession and the
“New” Public Law: Toward Systematic Analysis
This paper will discuss the development of a ‘new’
public law in response to the worldwide democratic
recession of the past 15-20 years (and ongoing in e.g.
Hungary, Poland, India, South Africa, Brazil) by briefly
examining three questions: (i) What is the democratic
recession and what is new about contemporary democratic
breakdowns and constitutional crises? (ii) How
have public law mechanisms evolved to address the
democratic recession in regional and transregional
international organizations? (e.g. Commonwealth,
Organization of American States, Council of Europe,
European Union, and African Union); and (iii) What are
our existing conceptual and theoretical frameworks for
understanding this new reality, and are they adequate?
Overall, the paper will argue that systematic analysis is
sorely needed if we are to make sense of this democratic
recession, its impact on the evolution of public
law, and the adequacy of the public law response to
democratic backsliding.