I am an associate professor in Constitutional and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Faculty of Law. I am teaching courses in Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, European Constitutional Law and Theory of State and Law also in many European universities.
Тази статия е посветена на демократичната легитимност на съдебната власт. Разгледани са видовете ... more Тази статия е посветена на демократичната легитимност на съдебната власт. Разгледани са видовете демократична легитимност, тяхното приложение спрямо съдебната власт. Анализирани са механизмите за създаване на входяща и изходяща легитимност на съдебната власт. Направени са изводи относно възможностите за повишаване на легитимността на съдебната власт.
Revolution, Contestation and Transition: Towards a New Global Constitutional Order?, 2019
This paper addresses the challenges to global constitutionalism produced by technological revolut... more This paper addresses the challenges to global constitutionalism produced by technological revolution in general and information and mobility revolution in particular. It outlines the perspectives to global constitutionalism with regard to the clash between neoliberalism and neoconservatism. It briefly analyses the parallel tendencies for horizontalization and hierarchization in the current global constitutional context.
Representative democracy was constructed as a normative model and theory during the Westphalian M... more Representative democracy was constructed as a normative model and theory during the Westphalian Modernity. It was put into practice during the "long XIX century" (Hobsbaum) and is presumed to have been the dominant model for organizing the institutional design since the second half of the XIX century. However we are currently experiencing crisis of both representation and democracy which produces the feeling that the representative democracy is nowadays "shaken order" (Mishkova). Some of the most important determinants of the crisis of democracy and more precisely of representative democracy are result of globalization. One of the basic challenges to constitutionalism and constitutional theory nowadays concerns the issue how to reestablish the conditions for democracy in the pluralist and multilevel constitutional setting of the EU, supranational constitutionalism and the emerging global constitutionalism. One of the main trends in that regard consists in launching and promoting the use of direct democracy for adopting fundamental decisions related to supranational constitutionalism and EU integration. Several types of EU related referenda have been used during the last decades especially in the age of constitutionalization of the EU legal order. Referenda for EU accession and even for EU secession (the Brexit case), as well as for the ratification of EU law reforms and the key EU policies (such as: financial stability and migration issues) have been held in several EU member states. This paper will try to provide a critical analysis of the problem-solving capacity of such referenda, their impact on the "democratization of democracy" (Offe), and their capacity to serve as a viable form of democratic control and inclusion in the context of structural crisis of the Westphalian statehood and its democratic government model.
This article provides an analysis of the functions performed by constitutional identity in consti... more This article provides an analysis of the functions performed by constitutional identity in constitutional discourses of both the EU and its Member States, in the context of emerging post-Westphalian and supranational constitutionalism. The analysis tries to demonstrate that constitutional identity may serve as one of the key normative ideologies, legitimation strategies and ordering schemes of EU constitutionalism. It reasserts through functional analysis the suitability of constitutional identity for organizing and explaining multiple constitutional orders in a non-hierarchical and inclusive way.
The article is based on a socio-legal approach, deliberately avoiding the predominant legal realist and legal positivist discourses. This is due to the fact that a functional analysis presupposes admitting the existence of ideal, legal and socio-legal dimensions of constitutional concepts and institutions and the taking into account of social implications produced by their functioning. The article deliberately takes a constitutionalist stance on the EU and the EU integration. It is focused on the contribution of constitutional identity for the further constitutionalization of the EU from a socio-political and constitutionalist perspective.
This paper analyses the challenges which global and regional migration, global financial capitalism and global information society impose on rule of law on national, international, supranational and global level. The main assumption is that while rule of law is traditionally bound to fixed territoriality in the context of Westphalian Modernity the information and mobility revolution as well as the current global expansion of financial capitalism create spaces of information, capital and migratory flows which are transterritorial, aterritorial, post-territorial and dynamic. Thus, the state-centered, static and territorially entrenched Westphalian rule of law is getting increasingly dysfunctional and incapable to giving adequate answers to these early post-Westphalian challenges. Hence, new concept of global and dynamic rule of law has to be theoretically developed and legally institutionalized in order to master the challenges to territorially entrenched constitutionalism and the ‘space of states’ produced by the emerging ‘space of flows’. The paper proposes several novel concepts. The most important of them are space of flows, global fluidity of the demos, post-territoriality, aterritorial constitutionalism and global and dynamic rule of law. The paper is part of the attempts at deconstruction of Westphalian concepts with increasing dysfunctionality such as sovereignty, fixed territoriality, static rule of law etc. and for their reconstruction or for suggestion of new concepts capable of mastering the global constitutional challenges in the age of globalization, information and mobility revolution and in the light of post-Westphalian concepts such as open statehood, societal constitutionalism, aterritorial and post-territorial constitutionalism and space of flows.
Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология разгледана като теория за конституционните... more Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология разгледана като теория за конституционните ценности и конституционните принципи, като правна институционализация на ценностния конституционен консенсус и като практическо прилагане на конституционализирания морал. Конституционната аксиология се представя като отворена и неавтономна система. Тя е отворена към метаюридически нормативни системи и е зависима от техните нормативни концепции и парадигми. Мрежовите отношения между основните конституционни ценности и принципи са отграничени от йерархичните отношения между тях и секторните конституционни ценности и принципи. Изследвано е също отношението между аксиологията на националното конституционно право и аксиологията на наднационалния конституционализъм.
Статията е публикувана в сборник от конференция, организирана от НБУ с наименование "Законът на правото или правото на закона", С., 2017.
Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология. Тя изследва същността на конституционните... more Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология. Тя изследва същността на конституционните ценности и конституционните принципи. Изяснява се значението им в системата на нормативните регулатори на конституционното право и се прави разграничение между тях и конституционните цели, нормативните идеологии и нормативните идеи, правата на човека, формата на държавно управление и формата на държавно устройство. Достига се до извода, че конституционните принципи не са идентични на правните принципи. Всъщност конституционните ценности са конституционни принципи в Дворкинианския смисъл на понятието за правен принцип.
Статията изследва начина, по който българските магистрати разбират и прилагат на практика примата... more Статията изследва начина, по който българските магистрати разбират и прилагат на практика примата на правото на ЕС, върховенството на Конституцията, примата на международните договори и на решенията на Съда на ЕС и на Европейския съд по правата на човека. Статията е публикувана в списание "Съвременно право", брой 4 от 2012 г.
This article is devoted to the analysis of the nature, the content and partially to the functions... more This article is devoted to the analysis of the nature, the content and partially to the functions of the constitutional preambles. A typology of the constitutional preambles has also been accomplished. The article explores the interrelation of the constitutional preambles with the constitutional ontology, constitutional symbolics, constitutional axiology, constitutional teleology and institutional issues concerning the human rights or the state bodies. Furthermore it explains the role of the constitutional preambles for the reflexivity, reactivity, affirmativity and proactivity of the constitutions. The comparative and historic analysis of the constitutional preambles adopted since the beginning of the West European constitutionalism allows the conclusion that with regard to their content and functions they may serve alternatively or simultaneously as mirror of the constitution, family photo album of the ruler and the nation, drum of the herald or ethical code of the nation.
Book. This is just the table of contents of my book "Financial Constitutionalism". If you are int... more Book. This is just the table of contents of my book "Financial Constitutionalism". If you are interested in it just send me a request on my e-mail: martinbelov@yahoo.com and I will send you a PDF.
Book. This is just the table of contents of the book. If you are interested in that book please s... more Book. This is just the table of contents of the book. If you are interested in that book please send me a request on my mail: martinbelov@yahoo.com and I will send you a PDF.
This is a sample of the paper consisting of the title page of the book and the first page. If you... more This is a sample of the paper consisting of the title page of the book and the first page. If you are interested to get the whole paper please send me a request on my e-mail and I will send it to you with great pleasure!
Тази статия е посветена на демократичната легитимност на съдебната власт. Разгледани са видовете ... more Тази статия е посветена на демократичната легитимност на съдебната власт. Разгледани са видовете демократична легитимност, тяхното приложение спрямо съдебната власт. Анализирани са механизмите за създаване на входяща и изходяща легитимност на съдебната власт. Направени са изводи относно възможностите за повишаване на легитимността на съдебната власт.
Revolution, Contestation and Transition: Towards a New Global Constitutional Order?, 2019
This paper addresses the challenges to global constitutionalism produced by technological revolut... more This paper addresses the challenges to global constitutionalism produced by technological revolution in general and information and mobility revolution in particular. It outlines the perspectives to global constitutionalism with regard to the clash between neoliberalism and neoconservatism. It briefly analyses the parallel tendencies for horizontalization and hierarchization in the current global constitutional context.
Representative democracy was constructed as a normative model and theory during the Westphalian M... more Representative democracy was constructed as a normative model and theory during the Westphalian Modernity. It was put into practice during the "long XIX century" (Hobsbaum) and is presumed to have been the dominant model for organizing the institutional design since the second half of the XIX century. However we are currently experiencing crisis of both representation and democracy which produces the feeling that the representative democracy is nowadays "shaken order" (Mishkova). Some of the most important determinants of the crisis of democracy and more precisely of representative democracy are result of globalization. One of the basic challenges to constitutionalism and constitutional theory nowadays concerns the issue how to reestablish the conditions for democracy in the pluralist and multilevel constitutional setting of the EU, supranational constitutionalism and the emerging global constitutionalism. One of the main trends in that regard consists in launching and promoting the use of direct democracy for adopting fundamental decisions related to supranational constitutionalism and EU integration. Several types of EU related referenda have been used during the last decades especially in the age of constitutionalization of the EU legal order. Referenda for EU accession and even for EU secession (the Brexit case), as well as for the ratification of EU law reforms and the key EU policies (such as: financial stability and migration issues) have been held in several EU member states. This paper will try to provide a critical analysis of the problem-solving capacity of such referenda, their impact on the "democratization of democracy" (Offe), and their capacity to serve as a viable form of democratic control and inclusion in the context of structural crisis of the Westphalian statehood and its democratic government model.
This article provides an analysis of the functions performed by constitutional identity in consti... more This article provides an analysis of the functions performed by constitutional identity in constitutional discourses of both the EU and its Member States, in the context of emerging post-Westphalian and supranational constitutionalism. The analysis tries to demonstrate that constitutional identity may serve as one of the key normative ideologies, legitimation strategies and ordering schemes of EU constitutionalism. It reasserts through functional analysis the suitability of constitutional identity for organizing and explaining multiple constitutional orders in a non-hierarchical and inclusive way.
The article is based on a socio-legal approach, deliberately avoiding the predominant legal realist and legal positivist discourses. This is due to the fact that a functional analysis presupposes admitting the existence of ideal, legal and socio-legal dimensions of constitutional concepts and institutions and the taking into account of social implications produced by their functioning. The article deliberately takes a constitutionalist stance on the EU and the EU integration. It is focused on the contribution of constitutional identity for the further constitutionalization of the EU from a socio-political and constitutionalist perspective.
This paper analyses the challenges which global and regional migration, global financial capitalism and global information society impose on rule of law on national, international, supranational and global level. The main assumption is that while rule of law is traditionally bound to fixed territoriality in the context of Westphalian Modernity the information and mobility revolution as well as the current global expansion of financial capitalism create spaces of information, capital and migratory flows which are transterritorial, aterritorial, post-territorial and dynamic. Thus, the state-centered, static and territorially entrenched Westphalian rule of law is getting increasingly dysfunctional and incapable to giving adequate answers to these early post-Westphalian challenges. Hence, new concept of global and dynamic rule of law has to be theoretically developed and legally institutionalized in order to master the challenges to territorially entrenched constitutionalism and the ‘space of states’ produced by the emerging ‘space of flows’. The paper proposes several novel concepts. The most important of them are space of flows, global fluidity of the demos, post-territoriality, aterritorial constitutionalism and global and dynamic rule of law. The paper is part of the attempts at deconstruction of Westphalian concepts with increasing dysfunctionality such as sovereignty, fixed territoriality, static rule of law etc. and for their reconstruction or for suggestion of new concepts capable of mastering the global constitutional challenges in the age of globalization, information and mobility revolution and in the light of post-Westphalian concepts such as open statehood, societal constitutionalism, aterritorial and post-territorial constitutionalism and space of flows.
Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология разгледана като теория за конституционните... more Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология разгледана като теория за конституционните ценности и конституционните принципи, като правна институционализация на ценностния конституционен консенсус и като практическо прилагане на конституционализирания морал. Конституционната аксиология се представя като отворена и неавтономна система. Тя е отворена към метаюридически нормативни системи и е зависима от техните нормативни концепции и парадигми. Мрежовите отношения между основните конституционни ценности и принципи са отграничени от йерархичните отношения между тях и секторните конституционни ценности и принципи. Изследвано е също отношението между аксиологията на националното конституционно право и аксиологията на наднационалния конституционализъм.
Статията е публикувана в сборник от конференция, организирана от НБУ с наименование "Законът на правото или правото на закона", С., 2017.
Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология. Тя изследва същността на конституционните... more Тази статия е посветена на конституционната аксиология. Тя изследва същността на конституционните ценности и конституционните принципи. Изяснява се значението им в системата на нормативните регулатори на конституционното право и се прави разграничение между тях и конституционните цели, нормативните идеологии и нормативните идеи, правата на човека, формата на държавно управление и формата на държавно устройство. Достига се до извода, че конституционните принципи не са идентични на правните принципи. Всъщност конституционните ценности са конституционни принципи в Дворкинианския смисъл на понятието за правен принцип.
Статията изследва начина, по който българските магистрати разбират и прилагат на практика примата... more Статията изследва начина, по който българските магистрати разбират и прилагат на практика примата на правото на ЕС, върховенството на Конституцията, примата на международните договори и на решенията на Съда на ЕС и на Европейския съд по правата на човека. Статията е публикувана в списание "Съвременно право", брой 4 от 2012 г.
This article is devoted to the analysis of the nature, the content and partially to the functions... more This article is devoted to the analysis of the nature, the content and partially to the functions of the constitutional preambles. A typology of the constitutional preambles has also been accomplished. The article explores the interrelation of the constitutional preambles with the constitutional ontology, constitutional symbolics, constitutional axiology, constitutional teleology and institutional issues concerning the human rights or the state bodies. Furthermore it explains the role of the constitutional preambles for the reflexivity, reactivity, affirmativity and proactivity of the constitutions. The comparative and historic analysis of the constitutional preambles adopted since the beginning of the West European constitutionalism allows the conclusion that with regard to their content and functions they may serve alternatively or simultaneously as mirror of the constitution, family photo album of the ruler and the nation, drum of the herald or ethical code of the nation.
Book. This is just the table of contents of my book "Financial Constitutionalism". If you are int... more Book. This is just the table of contents of my book "Financial Constitutionalism". If you are interested in it just send me a request on my e-mail: martinbelov@yahoo.com and I will send you a PDF.
Book. This is just the table of contents of the book. If you are interested in that book please s... more Book. This is just the table of contents of the book. If you are interested in that book please send me a request on my mail: martinbelov@yahoo.com and I will send you a PDF.
This is a sample of the paper consisting of the title page of the book and the first page. If you... more This is a sample of the paper consisting of the title page of the book and the first page. If you are interested to get the whole paper please send me a request on my e-mail and I will send it to you with great pleasure!
This is the table of contents and the Introduction of the book "Global Governance and Its Effects... more This is the table of contents and the Introduction of the book "Global Governance and Its Effects on State and Law".
This is the updated list of my publications. It contains also the links to the publications avail... more This is the updated list of my publications. It contains also the links to the publications available in Internet.
This is an invitation to my public lecture which will be held at the University of Oxford on 25 O... more This is an invitation to my public lecture which will be held at the University of Oxford on 25 October 2018. The public lecture will be on the topic 'Constitutional Geometry and post-Westphalian Constitutionalism'. This event is also presentation of the book 'Martin Belov (ed.) 'Global Constitutionalism and Its Challenges to Westphalian Constitutional Law', Oxford, 'Hart' publishing, 2018. The book is available at: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/global-constitutionalism-and-its-challenges-to-westphalian-constitutional-law-9781509914883/
This is the application form for the IV Sofia Legal Science Week 'Law and Revolution' - see the c... more This is the application form for the IV Sofia Legal Science Week 'Law and Revolution' - see the call uploaded before!
This is the call for papers for the IV Sofia Legal Science Week 'Law and Revolution', co-organize... more This is the call for papers for the IV Sofia Legal Science Week 'Law and Revolution', co-organized by the University of Sofia 'St. Kliment Ohridski', Faculty of Law and the Sofia Legal Science Network. The conference will be held on 27 and 28 March 2020 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Deadline for applications is 15 November 2019. Apply now!
This is the program of the III Erasmus legal science week devoted to the topic 'The Role of Court... more This is the program of the III Erasmus legal science week devoted to the topic 'The Role of Courts in Contemporary Legal Orders'. The III Erasmus legal science week is an international congress organized by the University of Sofia 'St. Kliment Ohridski', Bulgaria. It comprises 6 public lectures (27 and 28 March) and 3 parallel conferences (29-30 March) on the following topics:
- 'The Role of Courts in Contemporary Legal Orders'
- 'Courts and Politics'
- 'Judicial Dialogue'
There will be 74 participants from 4 continents (Europe, North America, South America and Asia). There will be 9 Bulgarian scholars and 65 professors from leading universities from USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Poland, Venezuela, Vietnam, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and Romania. Some judges will also be among the participants including judges from the European Court of Justice.
You are welcome to join us in Sofia!
Please note that this is an annual event organized on different topic related to constitutional law, theory of state and law, comparative public law and EU law each Spring in Sofia, Bulgaria. The call for the next conference (to be held in March or April 2020) will be published in October 2019.
prof. Dr. Martin Belov organizer of the conference
About the Journal
Nuovi Autoritarismi e Democrazie: Diritto, Istituzioni, Società (New Authoritar... more About the Journal Nuovi Autoritarismi e Democrazie: Diritto, Istituzioni, Società (New Authoritarian Regimes and Democracies: Law, Institutions, Society), or NAD-DIS, is an open-access peer-reviewed academic e-Journal based on University of Milan Online Journals’ System (https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/NAD). NAD-DIS researches historical, institutional, as well as legal phenomena in geopolitical regions characterized by a highly dynamic and extremely complex ethno-linguistic, historical, religious and socio-economic structure (Central-Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, China, Asia, and Latin America). Editor in Chief: A. Di Gregorio (Univ. of Milan); other editors: M. Rosti, E. Giunchi, C. Fiamingo (Univ. of Milan). Scientific Board: M.E. Baudoin (Univ. Clermont Auvergne), M. Belov (Sofia Univ. “St. Kliment Ohridski”), F. Bettanin (Univ. of Naples “L’Orientale”), L. Choukroune (Univ. of Portsmouth, UK), M. C. Ercolessi (Univ. of Naples “L’Orientale”), R. Escobar (Univ. Milan), D. Fonseca (Univ. Évry-Val d’Essonne / Paris-Saclay Univ.), M. Ganino (Univ. Milan), T. Groppi (Univ. Siena), C. M. Herrera (Univ. Cergy-Pontoise), A. Kovler (Higher School of Economics – National Research University, Moscow), M. G. Losano (Univ. of Eastern Piedmont “Amedeo Avogadro”), G. Marković (Univ. East Sarajevo), M. Minakov (Kennan Institute – Wilson Center), M. Oliviero (Univ. Perugia), I. Pappé (Univ. of Exeter, UK), L. Pegoraro (Univ. Bologna), H. Rabault (Univ. of Évry-Val-d’Essonne / Paris-Saclay University), S. Ragone (Univ. of Bologna), A. Rinella (LUMSA University), E. S. Tanasescu (Univ. Bucharest), G. Tusseau (Sciences Po – Law School).
Editorial proposals are divided into different categories. The "Essays" section is dedicated to articulated contributions based on a rigorous scientific and methodological approach (max. 50.000 characters). "Chronicles" section includes timely and descriptive updates (max. 15.000 chs). Moreover, the Journal have minor sections for book reviews, case comments, and other contributions (max 15.000 chs). The essays will be focused mainly on perspectives of constitutional and comparative law, philosophy of law, history of institutions, comparative politics, political philosophy, political and economic geography. The topics to be treated are: constitutional developments; elections and political parties; national and international courts; relationships between secularism and religion, politics and economy; energy, environmental and natural resources; regional integration; migrations policies; corruption and organized crime; post-conflict justice; minority protection; indigenous peoples. Not limiting its field to the aforementioned list, the Journal will also focus, with its first issues, on providing an overall framework on recent evolutions of the contemporary state (democracy decay, new authoritarianism, hybrid regimes).
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However we are currently experiencing crisis of both representation and democracy which produces the feeling that the representative democracy is nowadays "shaken order" (Mishkova). Some of the most important determinants of the crisis of democracy and more precisely of representative democracy are result of globalization. One of the basic challenges to constitutionalism and constitutional theory nowadays concerns the issue how to reestablish the conditions for democracy in the pluralist and multilevel constitutional setting of the EU, supranational constitutionalism and the emerging global constitutionalism.
One of the main trends in that regard consists in launching and promoting the use of direct democracy for adopting fundamental decisions related to supranational constitutionalism and EU integration. Several types of EU related referenda have been used during the last decades especially in the age of constitutionalization of the EU legal order. Referenda for EU accession and even for EU secession (the Brexit case), as well as for the ratification of EU law reforms and the key EU policies (such as: financial stability and migration issues) have been held in several EU member states.
This paper will try to provide a critical analysis of the problem-solving capacity of such referenda, their impact on the "democratization of democracy" (Offe), and their capacity to serve as a viable form of democratic control and inclusion in the context of structural crisis of the Westphalian statehood and its democratic government model.
The article is based on a socio-legal approach, deliberately avoiding the predominant legal realist and legal positivist discourses. This is due to the fact that a functional analysis presupposes admitting the existence of ideal, legal and socio-legal dimensions of constitutional concepts and institutions and the taking into account of social implications produced by their functioning. The article deliberately takes a constitutionalist stance on the EU and the EU integration. It is focused on the contribution of constitutional identity for the further constitutionalization of the EU from a socio-political and constitutionalist perspective.
This paper analyses the challenges which global and regional migration, global financial capitalism and global information society impose on rule of law on national, international, supranational and global level. The main assumption is that while rule of law is traditionally bound to fixed territoriality in the context of Westphalian Modernity the information and mobility revolution as well as the current global expansion of financial capitalism create spaces of information, capital and migratory flows which are transterritorial, aterritorial, post-territorial and dynamic. Thus, the state-centered, static and territorially entrenched Westphalian rule of law is getting increasingly dysfunctional and incapable to giving adequate answers to these early post-Westphalian challenges. Hence, new concept of global and dynamic rule of law has to be theoretically developed and legally institutionalized in order to master the challenges to territorially entrenched constitutionalism and the ‘space of states’ produced by the emerging ‘space of flows’.
The paper proposes several novel concepts. The most important of them are space of flows, global fluidity of the demos, post-territoriality, aterritorial constitutionalism and global and dynamic rule of law. The paper is part of the attempts at deconstruction of Westphalian concepts with increasing dysfunctionality such as sovereignty, fixed territoriality, static rule of law etc. and for their reconstruction or for suggestion of new concepts capable of mastering the global constitutional challenges in the age of globalization, information and mobility revolution and in the light of post-Westphalian concepts such as open statehood, societal constitutionalism, aterritorial and post-territorial constitutionalism and space of flows.
Статията е публикувана в сборник от конференция, организирана от НБУ с наименование "Законът на правото или правото на закона", С., 2017.
However we are currently experiencing crisis of both representation and democracy which produces the feeling that the representative democracy is nowadays "shaken order" (Mishkova). Some of the most important determinants of the crisis of democracy and more precisely of representative democracy are result of globalization. One of the basic challenges to constitutionalism and constitutional theory nowadays concerns the issue how to reestablish the conditions for democracy in the pluralist and multilevel constitutional setting of the EU, supranational constitutionalism and the emerging global constitutionalism.
One of the main trends in that regard consists in launching and promoting the use of direct democracy for adopting fundamental decisions related to supranational constitutionalism and EU integration. Several types of EU related referenda have been used during the last decades especially in the age of constitutionalization of the EU legal order. Referenda for EU accession and even for EU secession (the Brexit case), as well as for the ratification of EU law reforms and the key EU policies (such as: financial stability and migration issues) have been held in several EU member states.
This paper will try to provide a critical analysis of the problem-solving capacity of such referenda, their impact on the "democratization of democracy" (Offe), and their capacity to serve as a viable form of democratic control and inclusion in the context of structural crisis of the Westphalian statehood and its democratic government model.
The article is based on a socio-legal approach, deliberately avoiding the predominant legal realist and legal positivist discourses. This is due to the fact that a functional analysis presupposes admitting the existence of ideal, legal and socio-legal dimensions of constitutional concepts and institutions and the taking into account of social implications produced by their functioning. The article deliberately takes a constitutionalist stance on the EU and the EU integration. It is focused on the contribution of constitutional identity for the further constitutionalization of the EU from a socio-political and constitutionalist perspective.
This paper analyses the challenges which global and regional migration, global financial capitalism and global information society impose on rule of law on national, international, supranational and global level. The main assumption is that while rule of law is traditionally bound to fixed territoriality in the context of Westphalian Modernity the information and mobility revolution as well as the current global expansion of financial capitalism create spaces of information, capital and migratory flows which are transterritorial, aterritorial, post-territorial and dynamic. Thus, the state-centered, static and territorially entrenched Westphalian rule of law is getting increasingly dysfunctional and incapable to giving adequate answers to these early post-Westphalian challenges. Hence, new concept of global and dynamic rule of law has to be theoretically developed and legally institutionalized in order to master the challenges to territorially entrenched constitutionalism and the ‘space of states’ produced by the emerging ‘space of flows’.
The paper proposes several novel concepts. The most important of them are space of flows, global fluidity of the demos, post-territoriality, aterritorial constitutionalism and global and dynamic rule of law. The paper is part of the attempts at deconstruction of Westphalian concepts with increasing dysfunctionality such as sovereignty, fixed territoriality, static rule of law etc. and for their reconstruction or for suggestion of new concepts capable of mastering the global constitutional challenges in the age of globalization, information and mobility revolution and in the light of post-Westphalian concepts such as open statehood, societal constitutionalism, aterritorial and post-territorial constitutionalism and space of flows.
Статията е публикувана в сборник от конференция, организирана от НБУ с наименование "Законът на правото или правото на закона", С., 2017.
- 'The Role of Courts in Contemporary Legal Orders'
- 'Courts and Politics'
- 'Judicial Dialogue'
There will be 74 participants from 4 continents (Europe, North America, South America and Asia). There will be 9 Bulgarian scholars and 65 professors from leading universities from USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Poland, Venezuela, Vietnam, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and Romania. Some judges will also be among the participants including judges from the European Court of Justice.
You are welcome to join us in Sofia!
Please note that this is an annual event organized on different topic related to constitutional law, theory of state and law, comparative public law and EU law each Spring in Sofia, Bulgaria. The call for the next conference (to be held in March or April 2020) will be published in October 2019.
prof. Dr. Martin Belov
organizer of the conference
Nuovi Autoritarismi e Democrazie: Diritto, Istituzioni, Società (New Authoritarian Regimes and Democracies: Law, Institutions, Society), or NAD-DIS, is an open-access peer-reviewed academic e-Journal based on University of Milan Online Journals’ System (https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/NAD). NAD-DIS researches historical, institutional, as well as legal phenomena in geopolitical regions characterized by a highly dynamic and extremely complex ethno-linguistic, historical, religious and socio-economic structure (Central-Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, China, Asia, and Latin America).
Editor in Chief: A. Di Gregorio (Univ. of Milan); other editors: M. Rosti, E. Giunchi, C. Fiamingo (Univ. of Milan).
Scientific Board: M.E. Baudoin (Univ. Clermont Auvergne), M. Belov (Sofia Univ. “St. Kliment Ohridski”), F. Bettanin (Univ. of Naples “L’Orientale”), L. Choukroune (Univ. of Portsmouth, UK), M. C. Ercolessi (Univ. of Naples “L’Orientale”), R. Escobar (Univ. Milan), D. Fonseca (Univ. Évry-Val d’Essonne / Paris-Saclay Univ.), M. Ganino (Univ. Milan), T. Groppi (Univ. Siena), C. M. Herrera (Univ. Cergy-Pontoise), A. Kovler (Higher School of Economics – National Research University, Moscow), M. G. Losano (Univ. of Eastern Piedmont “Amedeo Avogadro”), G. Marković (Univ. East Sarajevo), M. Minakov (Kennan Institute – Wilson Center), M. Oliviero (Univ. Perugia), I. Pappé (Univ. of Exeter, UK), L. Pegoraro (Univ. Bologna), H. Rabault (Univ. of Évry-Val-d’Essonne / Paris-Saclay University), S. Ragone (Univ. of Bologna), A. Rinella (LUMSA University), E. S. Tanasescu (Univ. Bucharest), G. Tusseau (Sciences Po – Law School).
Editorial proposals are divided into different categories. The "Essays" section is dedicated to articulated contributions based on a rigorous scientific and methodological approach (max. 50.000 characters). "Chronicles" section includes timely and descriptive updates (max. 15.000 chs). Moreover, the Journal have minor sections for book reviews, case comments, and other contributions (max 15.000 chs). The essays will be focused mainly on perspectives of constitutional and comparative law, philosophy of law, history of institutions, comparative politics, political philosophy, political and economic geography. The topics to be treated are: constitutional developments; elections and political parties; national and international courts; relationships between secularism and religion, politics and economy; energy, environmental and natural resources; regional integration; migrations policies; corruption and organized crime; post-conflict justice; minority protection; indigenous peoples. Not limiting its field to the aforementioned list, the Journal will also focus, with its first issues, on providing an overall framework on recent evolutions of the contemporary state (democracy decay, new authoritarianism, hybrid regimes).