Legitimacy: The Social Turn and Constitutional Review: What political liberalism suggests: A Reply to Frank I. Michelman

Dennis Davis

doi:10.5771/2193-7869-2015-3-224

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- 171–171 Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis 171–171
- 172–172 AutorInnen 172–172
- 173–182 Editorial Johan van der Walt Johan van der Walt 173–182
- 183–205 Legitimacy, The Social Turn and Constitutional Review: What Political Liberalism Suggests Frank I. Michelman Frank I. Michelman 183–205
- 206–211 Legitimation by Constitution and Socioeconomic Rights from a German Perspective Dieter Grimm Dieter Grimm 206–211
- 212–219 Political Liberalism or Political Right? A Commentary on Michelman’s Legitimacy, The Social Turn and Constitutional Review Martin Loughlin Martin Loughlin 212–219
- 220–223 Questions About Michelman’s Second Proceduralization Mark Tushnet Mark Tushnet 220–223
- 224–228 Legitimacy: The Social Turn and Constitutional Review: What political liberalism suggests: A Reply to Frank I. Michelman Dennis Davis Dennis Davis 224–228
- 229–244 The Dead End of the “Social Turn”: Social Cooperation as the Foundation of Legitimacy Thorsten Fuchshuber Thorsten Fuchshuber 229–244
- 245–270 Towards a Social-Liberal Vaccine for Neoliberalism: Michelman’s Antipoverty Project and the Principle of Legal Immunization Brian W. Nail Brian W. Nail 245–270
- 271–283 Political Liberalism and Civil Disobedience: The Morgentaler Affair Revisited Richard Mailey Richard Mailey 271–283
- 284–302 Constitutionalization of Socio-Economic Rights at the EU Level: Some Critical Notes Orsola Razzolini Orsola Razzolini 284–302
- 303–338 Delegitimation by Constitution? – Liberal Democratic Experimentalism and the Question of Socio-economic Rights Johan van der Walt Johan van der Walt 303–338
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KritV Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft , page 224 - 228

Legitimacy: The Social Turn and Constitutional Review: What political liberalism suggests: A Reply to Frank I. Michelman

Autoren

Dennis Davis

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/2193-7869-2015-3-224
- ISSN: 2193-7869
- ISSN online: 2193-7869
Abstract

The authority enjoyed by a constitution is not self-generating. It rests on political conditions which cannot be guaranteed by the constitutional text itself. For this reason contemporary constitutionally structured government requires a legitimacy which is not attained through some transcendent metaphysical claim but by means of the performance of its regulatory functions designed to improve the life and health of the citizenry. Expressed differently, when the output of this regulation closes the societal gap between a prevailing reality and the vision prefigured in the constitutional text, the constitutional enterprise may only then attain a viable form of political power. For Martin Loughlin, this role of government underlies a certain utopian idea, particularly when informed by a positive form of constitutionalism which holds the potential for an escape from the limits of nature and history, as it prefigures a new framework for society. Hence, the key question is whether this type of governmental regime can continue to maintain the power of constitutional imagination which sustains a collective political association that the individual within the association will tend to accept over the long run.
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