Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe

Description

This title recounts the transformation of Europe from the post-war era until the Euro-crisis, using the tools of constitutional analysis and critical theory. The central claim is twofold: Europe has been gradually reconstituted in a manner that combines political authoritarianism with economic liberalism and that this order is now in a critical condition. Authoritarian liberalism is constructed supranationally, through a taming of inter-state relations in the project of European integration; at the domestic level, through the depoliticization of state-society relations; and socially, through the emergence of a new constitutional imaginary based on liberal individualism. In the language of constitutional theory, this transformation can be captured by the substitution of supranationalism for internationalism, technocracy for democracy, and economic for political freedom. Sovereignty is restrained, democracy curtailed, and class struggle repressed. This constitutional trajectory takes time to unfold and develop and it presents continuities and discontinuities. On the one hand, authoritarian liberalism is deepened by the neoliberalism of the Maastricht era and the creation of Economic and Monetary Union. On the other hand, counter-movements then also begin to emerge, geopolitically, in the return of the German question, domestically, in the challenges to the EU presented by constitutional courts, and informally, in the rise of anti-systemic political parties and movements. Sovereignty, democracy, and political freedom resurface, but are then more actively suppressed through the harsher authoritarian liberalism of the Euro-crisis phase. This leads now to an impasse. Anti-systemic politics return but remain uneasily within the EU, suggesting authoritarian liberalism has reached its limits if just about managing to maintain constitutional order. As yet, there has been no definitive rupture, with the possible exception of Brexit. cover Series Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe Copyright Dedication Table of Contents List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I 1. Authoritarian Liberalism in Late Weimar 1. Introduction 2. Authoritarian liberalism in late Weimar 3. Toleration by the Social Democrats: a crisis of representation 4. Fascist dictatorship: the end of the political 5. A cult of violence 2. Beyond Weimar: The Long Crisis of Liberalism, the Political Economy of the Interwar Conjuncture, and the Foundations of Neo-​liberalism 1. Introduction 2. A liberal constitution in crisis: three models of constitutional self-defence Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law Schmitt’s Absolute Constitution Heller’s social democratic state 3. Karl Polanyi and the political economy of the interwar conjuncture 4. The foundations of neo-​liberalism Part II 3. Restraining State Sovereignty: Imagining a ‘European Germany’ 1. Introduction 2. A semi-​sovereign state at the heart of Europe 3. The supranational compromise 4. De-​democratization of the Political Constitution 1. Introduction 2. Demobilization of the masses and the decline of parliamentarism 3. Sovereignty of the law 4. Constitutionalization of the European Treaties 5. The Material Constitution: Ordoliberalism, Neoliberalism, and the Deradicalization of Political Opposition 1. Introduction 2. The economic constitution and ordoliberalism 3. An economic constitution writ large and the transition to neo-​liberalism 4. Political deradicalization Part III 6. Restraining State Sovereignty or the Return of the German Question? 1. Introduction 2. Differentiated integration and the ‘new intergovernmentalism’ 3. The return of the German question 4. Enlargement of the Union: stark utopia, stark asymmetries 7. The Post-​sovereign Constitution or the Return of Sovereignty? 1. Introduction 2. Post-​sovereign constitutionalism 3. The return of sovereignty claims 4. Excavating the dialectic: an authoritarian constitutionalism 8. The Material Constitution: There is no Alternative . . . or is There? 1. Introduction 2. Economic and Monetary Union 3. Deepening and widening of market liberal ideology 4. Decline of traditional mass parties and the emergence of social resentment Part IV 9. Authoritarian Liberalism Writ Large: the Spectre of a ‘German Europe’ 1. Introduction 2. The Lisbon Treaty: a geo-​constitutional fudge 3. Euro crisis: the end of the democratic federal dream 4. The emergence of semi-​hegemony in a ‘German Europe’ 10. The New Constitutionalism and its Discontents 1. Introduction 2. The globalization of European constitutional discourse 3. Who is the guardian of the European Constitution? 4. The new constitutionalists 5. From Habermasian federalism to Schmittian federation 11. The Material Constitution in Crisis: Telos, Nomos, and Demos 1. Introduction 2. Economic liberalism and the telos of irreversibility 3. Austerity: narrative and nomos 4. The erosion of the demos Conclusion Bibliography Index