The Constitutional Imagination

The constitutional imagination refers to the way we have been able to conceive the relationship between thought, text and action in the constitution of modern political authority. The lecture seeks to demonstrate how modern constitutional texts come to be invested with a 'world-making' cap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Modern law review 2015-01, Vol.78 (1), p.1-25
Main Author: Loughlin, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambiguity
Constitution
Constitutional law
Constitutions
Dialectics
Influence
Modernity and society
Political authority
Political ideology
Politics and government
Social contract
U.S. states
World politics
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Summary:The constitutional imagination refers to the way we have been able to conceive the relationship between thought, text and action in the constitution of modern political authority. The lecture seeks to demonstrate how modern constitutional texts come to be invested with a 'world-making' capacity. The argument is advanced first by explaining how social contract thinkers have been able to set the parameters of the constitutional imagination (thought), then by showing that constitutions are agonistic documents and their interpretative method is determined by a dialectic of ideology and utopia (text), and finally by examining the degree to which constitutions have been able to colonise the political domain, thereby converting constitutional aspiration into political reality (action). It concludes by suggesting that although we seem to be entering a constitutional age, this is an ambiguous achievement and whether the power of the constitutional imagination can still be sustained remains an open question.
ISSN:0026-7961
1468-2230
DOI:10.1111/1468-2230.12104