Constitutionalism without Constitution. Transnational Elites between Political Mobilization and Legal Expertise in the Making of a Constitution for Europe (1940s-1960s)

Antonin Cohen (1)

1 CURAPP-ESS - Centre universitaire de recherches sur l'action publique et le politique. Epistémologie et Sciences sociales

By exploring how early political investments in favor of a European Constitution have been turned into a legal enterprise to constitutionalize the European treaties, this article analyzes the changing role of legal elites in the genesis of a European transnational order. At first, legal activities Of constitution-making were closely linked to military issues and political mobilizations; later, the legal work of constitutionalization took a different path as a result of the process of differentiation of the European field of power and of the internal and contradictory logics of a newly created legal institution, the European Court of Justice (ECJ). By reconstructing the constitutionalization process, this article highlights the various types of elites then competing for the early definition of a European transnational order and, in particular, the capitals and representations of legal agents in the making of a Constitution for Europe.

Mots clés: Constitutionalism; Political Mobilization; Legal Expertise; Constitution for Europe

Domaines: Droit

Antonin Cohen. Constitutionalism without Constitution. Transnational Elites between Political Mobilization and Legal Expertise in the Making of a Constitution for Europe (1940s-1960s). Law and Social Inquiry, 2007, 32 (1), pp.109-135. ⟨10.1111/j.1747-4469.2007.00052.x⟩. ⟨halshs-00275869⟩