European Exceptionalism? — A Response to Alexander Somek'sThe Cosmopolitan Constitution
AbstractA major contemporary shift in constitutionalism is manifest in that domestic constitutions, to an unprecedented degree, submit themselves to legal regimes and agencies beyond the state. This is epitomized in national courts taking into account foreign precedent within the system of the European Convention on Human Rights and the government of the Eurozone crisis by the executive apparatus of the European Union (EU). Alexander Somek'sThe Cosmopolitan Constitutionis one of the most important monographs that endeavors to conceptualize this contemporary shift in constitutionalism. This response, however, highlights that the EU plays an uneasy role in the tale ofThe Cosmopolitan Constitution.The argument presented is that there are reasons to question the Eurocentrism that posits European post-WWII constitutional developments as the epitome of contemporary global constitutional developments. These reasons relate to the particularity of the European post-WWII political and constitutional experiences and developments. In contrast to what is maintained by Somek, this response argues that contemporary European trends in constitutionalism do not point in the direction of a universal cosmopolitanism but express a distinct European particularity.