Varieties of constitutionalism: Contestations of liberalism in comparative constitutional law

自由主义宪政面临压力。1990年代向宪政民主和市场经济过渡的浪潮标志着冷战的结束，但不是历史的终结。今天，经济危机、不平等加剧、非自由主义力量的崛起以及民粹主义和民族主义的复苏对自由主义宪政构成了挑战。我们的联合项目建议从比较宪法的角度调查这些挑战。我们试图绘制当代各种宪政，并评估在德国，巴西和各自的区域背景下，自由主义宪政的支持和替代方案。因此，该项目介入了比较宪法领域的全球辩论，并为关于自由主义立场的更广泛讨论提供了一个法律的视角。该项目追求三个主要目标：第一是通过发展一种比较类型学，使我们能够沿着沿着几个维度对宪政秩序进行分类，以识别不同类型的宪政，并捕捉自由主义类型内的变化，从而为宪政的多样性研究做出贡献。特别是，我们试图澄清是否变革宪政-一个概念，经常用来描述巴西的宪法秩序-应概念化作为一种替代自由宪政，或者是否两者是相同的宪法类型的变体。第二个目标是评估巴西和德国在其区域背景下的自由宪政主义的选定的立场。我们将比较哪些规范性的替代方案是先进的，以及过去和现在的立场是否导致（艾德）在一个替代制度，或在自由主义宪政的适应或改造。第三个目标是理论化的作用，范式的演员，或“主角”，发挥在各种宪政和自由主义的拥护者。如果个人是自由主义宪政的主角，那么在各种宪政中，是否有替代性的行动者，即社会运动或公司等集体行动者，争夺主要角色？我们的研究将集中在三个领域，承诺创新的见解：民主，经济和开放的宪政。这三个领域将在一个关于公司在各种宪政中的作用的跨领域专题研究中联系起来。本研究将评估公司是否在巴西和德国的经济，民主和/或开放的宪政中发挥了典范作用，将公司的宪政品种的类型学，并评估它在当代的自由主义宪政的发展中发挥的作用。这项研究将导致德国的阻碍，反馈项目的结果到德国的宪法学说和话语。

Liberal constitutionalism is under pressure. The wave of transitions to constitutional democracy and market economy in the 1990s marked the end of the cold war but not the end of history. Today, economic crises, increasing inequalities, the rise of non-liberal powers and the resurgence of populism and nationalism pose challenges to liberal constitutionalism. Our joint project proposes to investigate these challenges from the perspective of comparative constitutional law. We seek to map contemporary varieties of constitutionalism and to assess contestations of, and alternatives to, liberal constitutionalism in Germany, Brazil and the respective regional contexts. The project thus intervenes in global debates in the field of comparative constitutional law and contributes a legal perspective to broader discussions about contestations of liberalism. The project pursues three main objectives: The first is to contribute to the research on varieties of constitutionalism by developing a comparative typology that enables us to categorize constitutional orders along several dimensions, to identify different types of constitutionalism, and to capture variation within the liberal type. In particular, we seek to clarify whether transformative constitutionalism – a concept often used to characterize the Brazilian constitutional order – should be conceptualized as an alternative to liberal constitutionalism, or wether the two are variants of the same constitutional type. The second objective is to assess selected contestations of liberal constitutionalism in Brazil and Germany in their regional contexts. We will compare what normative alternatives are advanced and whether past and present contestations result(ed) in an alternative regime, or in the adaptation or transformation of liberal constitutionalism. The third objective is to theorize the role that paradigmatic actors, or “protagonists”, play in varieties of constitutionalism and contestations of liberalism. If the individual is the protagonist of liberal constitutionalism, are there alternative actors that compete for the main role in the varieties of constitutionalism, namely collective actors like social movements or corporations? Thematically our research will concentrate on three areas that promise innovative insights: democratic, economic and open constitutionalism. These three areas will be connected in a cross-cutting thematic study on the role of the corporation in the varieties of constitutionalism. This study will assess whether the corporation plays a paradigmatic role in economic, democratic and/or open constitutionalism in Brazil and Germany, will situate the corporation in the typology of the varieties of constitutionalism, and evaluate the role it plays in contemporary contestations of liberal constitutionalism. This study will result in a German habilitation that feeds project results back into German constitutional doctrine and discourse.