segunda-feira, outubro 06, 2003
Paris Vs Philadelphia
American constitutionalism speaks, as it were, with a Philadelphia accent, in what Rubenfeld calls the language of popular sovereignty: "We the people of the United States ... do ordain and establish ..." American constitutionalism does indeed check democracy, but remains accountable to democracy - to elected representatives and legislatures that can amend it, and to presidents and senators who nominate and confirm the judges who construe it.
European constitutionalism speaks with a Paris accent, using the language of universal truths defined by intellectual elites and presented to publics which are expected to be deferential. Because Europeans accept some trickle-down constitutionalism, they thought nothing amiss when the European committee that drafted a constitution for Kosovo - after a three-day visit there -had no Kosovar members
America saw the Second World War as a fight for the emancipation of nations?for their self-determination. Europeans (...) saw the war as "a victory against nationalism, against popular sovereignty, against democratic excess".
The much-discussed "democracy deficit" in the European Union - so much power wielded by unelected and unaccountable agencies - is not really an ancillary defect of "progress" toward a European superstate. Rather, that is the point of the enterprise: to place supposedly timeless truths and closed questions beyond the reach of popular sovereignty
posted by Miguel Noronha 5:20 da tarde
Comments:
Enviar um comentário
