Constitutionalizing Globalization: The Postmodern Revival of Confederal Arrangements

by Daniel J. Elazar

Constitutionalizing Globalization explores two converging trends: the spread of federalism and federal arrangements around the world, and the globalization taking place on the international scene. Daniel Elazar shows how globalization of the economy and the concern for global human rights bring with them the need for development of a constitutional order that will control both. The gradual development of appropriate constitutional mechanisms and controls is part of a general shift from modern statism to postmodern federalism. Reliance on the sovereignty of the nation-state, which marked the era from the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 to the end of World War II, gave way to the beginning of a world order that links states in various ways through enforceable constitutional bonds. These trends have been recognized by students both of federalism and of international relations. Constitutionalizing Globalization is the first book to join the perspectives of both in order to explain the new paradigm. It is important reading for students and scholars of constitutional issues, federalism, and international relations.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 12, 1998