‘Ourworld’: A feminist approach to global constitutionalism

Abstract

Abstract:Global constitutionalism offers a utopian picture of the future of international law. Its advocates suggest a governance system is emergent that will fill the gaps in legitimacy, democracy and the rule of law present in international law. Speculation about the future of international law is shaped, partly at least, by global constitutionalism aspiring to create a better global legal order, by filling these legitimacy gaps with both normative and procedural constitutionalism. But this raises the question ‘better for whom’? Feminist theory has challenged the foundations of both international law and constitutionalism; demonstrating that the design of normative structures accommodates and sustains prevailing patriarchal forms that leave little room for alternative accounts or voices. Both international and constitutional law’s structures support the status quo and are resistant to critical and feminist voices. The question is whether it is possible for constitutionalism to change international law in ways that will open it up to alternate possibilities. Building on a seven-point manifesto of feminist constitutionalism, previously proffered by the authors, which inculcated feminist concerns into global constitutionalism, this article offers an alternative starting point: feminist science fiction. Feminist utopian tracts such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland and Ursula K Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness offer valuable lessons for global constitutionalist discourses. The article uses feminist utopias in science fiction to better understand how to dismantle hierarchical structures, how to build feminist societies, and how to find approaches to governance not predicated on patriarchy. It does so by focusing on feminist alternatives for constructing communities, for understanding constituent power and constituent moments, and dismantling manifestations of the public/private divide. This article demonstrates that reading feminist utopian science fiction facilitates the reimagining of global constitutionalism.

International Constitution-making as a Technique of Gender Ordering: Considering the Role of the Family in Global Economic Relations

“…26 Feminist constitutionalist critiques of the nuclear family have also drawn on the utopian narratives of feminist science fiction, wherein "non-nuclear familial ties and kinship [are] the basis for community" and the "home and mothering are public, shared experiences and in some instances forms of governance." 27 Notably, however, the foregoing critiques are largely confined to considering the role of the nuclear family in ordering relations with the state, rather than internationally or globally.…”

Prefigurative Legality

“… 10. Cooper (2001, 2017, 2019, 2021); Davies (2007, 2017, 2022); Enright, McCandless, and O’Donoghue (2017); Houghton and O’Donoghue (2020); Morgan, Thorpe, and Cooper (2021); Thorpe and Morgan (2022); and Thorpe (2022) all provide indicative starting points, and are all members of a Collaborative Research Network convened by Bronwen Morgan, Davina Cooper, and Amelia Thorpe, under the umbrella of the Law and Society Association (LSA). Entitled Utopian Legalities, Prefigurative Politics and Radical Governance , the network has hosted two online workshops (on conceptual prefiguration and on failing utopias) and eight panels across the 2021 and 2022 LSA conferences.…”