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31 - The Material Constitution

from Part III. A - The State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2025

By
Marco Goldoni
Edited by
Richard Bellamy  and
Jeff King
Richard Bellamy
Affiliation:
University College London
Jeff King
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

This chapter tracks the theory and the development of the concept of the material constitution. Historically, it identifies three theoretical attempts at defining the material basis of the constitutional order: materialist political philosophy (mostly, Marx), 20th Century legal institutionalism (Schmitt and Mortati), and societal constitutionalism (Teubner). The following sections capitalise on this historical background and provide a sketch for the contemporary conception of the material constitution. The focus here is on how to make order and the material constitution is understood as a set of political, economic, and legal practices that are organised into some form of political unity with the intention of pursuing certain fundamental aims. The last section of the chapter applies this contemporary conception to constitutional issues such as constitutional identity and change.

Keywords

material constitutionlegal institutionalismsocietal constitutionalismCostantino Mortaticonstitutional change
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory , pp. 537 - 552
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Recommended Reading

Ackerman, B. (1998). We the People: Transformations, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Beaud, O. (1994). La Puissance de l’État, Paris: PUF.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colón-Ríos, J. (2020). Constituent Power and Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldoni, M., & Wilkinson, M. (2018). The Material Constitution. Modern Law Review, 81 (4), 567–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lassalle, F. (1942). On the Essence of Constitutions. Marxist Archive. Available from: www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/fi/vol03/no01/lassalle.htm.Google Scholar
Lindahl, H. (2013). Fault Lines of Globalisation, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loughlin, M. (2010). Foundations of Public Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortati, C. (2025). The Constitution in the Material Sense, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Neves, M. (2013). Transconstitutionalism, Hart: Oxford.Google Scholar
Poulantzas, N. (2000). State, Power, Socialism, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Romano, S. (2017). The Legal Order, Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, C. (2008). Constitutional Theory, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Teubner, G. (2012). Constitutional Fragments, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thornhill, C. (2011). A Sociology of Constitutions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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