Overview

From a legal-philosophical point of view, The Redress of Law presents a critical analysis of a number of related doctrinal fields: constitutional, labour and EU Law. Focusing on the organisation and protection of work, this book asks what it means to protect work as an essential aspect of human (individual and collective) flourishing. This is an ambitious and highly sophisticated intervention in contemporary academic and political debates around a set of critically important questions connected to processes of globalisation and market integration. The author redefines the nature of legal and political thought in an age in which market rationality has exceeded its classic domain and has come to pervade the organization of social and political life. This restatement of critical legal theory is intended to defend the concept of constitutionalism and suggest new ways to deploy the law strategically.

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9781108487030

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Reviews

'By which strategies will we reclaim 'our' constitutions from the demands of global capitalist markets and turn them into the political warrant of the freedom they were meant to serve: the freedom of dignity and solidarity? A masterfully orchestrated plethora of arguments, pairing admirable philosophical depth and practical legal design. Critical constitutional theory at its best.' Bert van Roermund, Honorary Professor (em.) Tilburg Law School 'No-one has captured the distinction between market constitutionalism and political constitutionalism more vividly or more insightfully than Christodoulidis. And no-one has framed the choice between them more profoundly. This is a book that captures contemporary law's critical condition, but also its continuing critical contribution, with great subtlety and imagination' Neil Walker, Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, University of Edinburgh Law School 'Since Aristotle, jurists and philosophers have studied how human societies are constituted. In a fascinating and poetic fresco, Emilios Christodoulidis also shows how they are today dislocated by market constitutionalism. In a thoughtful dialogue with an impressive variety of authors, he also sheds light on the resources that the law offers to escape the grip of the 'total market'.' Alain Supiot, Professor of Law, College de France 'This is the most profound critical theory of constitutionality I know of. The enormous range of social and political theories Christodoulidis is engaging with is breathtaking. He discusses them in depth, not from the cool distant standpoint of neutral scholarship but from the perspective of a political constitutionalism that seeks to synthesize Karl Marx' heritage with Niklas Luhmann's ultra-modern systems theory. His devastating critique of emerging transnational constitutions has one main target - the imperialism of total market thinking. However, what makes his analyses even more fascinating, Christodoulidis does not restrict himself to the usual exercises in critical theory which are suffering from their lack of credible alternatives. He develops strategies for a renewed constitutionality which break the monopoly of nation state constitutions and search for a political constitutionalization of society, particularly continuing the tradition of 'autogestionnaire' labour constitutionalism. He follows a double strategy. While the reformist strategy of 'militant formalisms' seeks to protect the integrity of law against the intrusions of economic rationality, the strategy of 'rupture' and the strategy of 'immanent critique' follow a more radical agenda.' Gunther Teubner, Professor of Private Law and Legal Sociology, Goethe Universitat Frankfurt

'By which strategies will we reclaim 'our' constitutions from the demands of global capitalist markets and turn them into the political warrant of the freedom they were meant to serve: the freedom of dignity and solidarity? A masterfully orchestrated plethora of arguments, pairing admirable philosophical depth and practical legal design. Critical constitutional theory at its best.' Bert van Roermund, Honorary Professor (em.) Tilburg Law School 'This is the most profound critical theory of constitutionality I know of. The enormous range of social and political theories Christodoulidis is engaging with is breathtaking. He discusses them in depth, not from the cool distant standpoint of neutral scholarship but from the perspective of a political constitutionalism that seeks to synthesize Karl Marx' heritage with Niklas Luhmann's ultra-modern systems theory. His devastating critique of emerging transnational constitutions has one main target - the imperialism of total market thinking. However, what makes his analyses even more fascinating, Christodoulidis does not restrict himself to the usual exercises in critical theory which are suffering from their lack of credible alternatives. He develops strategies for a renewed constitutionality which break the monopoly of nation state constitutions and search for a political constitutionalization of society, particularly continuing the tradition of 'autogestionnaire' labour constitutionalism. He follows a double strategy. While the reformist strategy of 'militant formalisms' seeks to protect the integrity of law against the intrusions of economic rationality, the strategy of 'rupture' and the strategy of 'immanent critique' follow a more radical agenda.' Gunther Teubner, Professor of Private Law and Legal Sociology, Goethe Universitat Frankfurt 'No-one has captured the distinction between market constitutionalism and political constitutionalism more vividly or more insightfully than Christodoulidis. And no-one has framed the choice between them more profoundly. This is a book that captures contemporary law's critical condition, but also its continuing critical contribution, with great subtlety and imagination' Neil Walker, Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, University of Edinburgh Law School 'Since Aristotle, jurists and philosophers have studied how human societies are constituted. In a fascinating and poetic fresco, Emilios Christodoulidis also shows how they are today dislocated by market constitutionalism. In a thoughtful dialogue with an impressive variety of authors, he also sheds light on the resources that the law offers to escape the grip of the 'total market'.' Alain Supiot, Professor of Law, College de France

Author Information

Emilios Christodoulidis holds the Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of the award-winning Law and Reflexive Politics (1996), edits the book series Critical Studies in Jurisprudence, and serves as managing editor of Law & Critique.

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