Alexander Somek'sThe Cosmopolitan Constitution

Abstract

The Cosmopolitan Constitutionis an intriguing and puzzling book. In particular, the book has the uncanny ability to render fresh what is for the constitutional theorist familiar territory such as the debate on judicial supremacy and the counter-majoritarian difficulty, the expansion of the proportionality principle, etc. In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of its overarching argument is that given our present conditions—such as those of the cosmopolitan constitution or constitutionalism 3.0—we should be increasingly plagued by self-doubt, at least to the extent that we are to remain committed to the tenets that once animated our constitutional traditions. This implies that the partial sense of disorientation with which one is left after reading the book is deliberately provoked precisely because of the main insights it has to offer.