A constitution is typically conceived of as the foundation of a modern legal order; indeed, it is what constitutes this order. In a formal legal sense, the constitution is not just another legal text, it is the text that allows us to consider as legal the other texts, practices, and institutions we call ‘law’. In a normative sense, the modern constitution founds the exercise of political authority in a framework of concepts, values, principles; ‘constitutionalism’, i.e., the idea that authority is limited by law, is thus the ultimate site of legal and political argument.
We say ‘argument’ because constitutionalism must be conceived of not merely as doctrine, but as discourse, one that may be deployed in very different ways. Critical perspectives on constitutionalism and constitutional law must contend with the fact that constitutionalism can provide a potent ideological tool for the exercise of hegemonic power. At the same time, the ideal of constitutionalism and its attendant language of rights and justice (often including aspirations for radical social transformation), provide the rhetorical and conceptual tools with the most powerful emancipatory possibilities. A constitution can thus appear at once the most conservative and the most radical of texts. The development of constitutional law and practice by various actors and institutions often embodies the struggle for shaping what it means to hold power in society, and what it means to question it.
For its Summer 2023 issue, the Jindal Global Law Review (JGLR) invites contributions that critically examine this dual nature of constitutionalism by exploring the discourses, practices, interpretations, institutions, and texts that shape it. What constitutes constitutionalism? Does the meaning of constitutionalism change from time to time and place to place, or is there a constant and universal vision of it? To what extent do doctrinal developments in constitutional law reflect conservative or radical political forces? How can we conceive of constitutionalism in contexts where authoritarianism takes hold in a constitutional democracy? Is the language of constitutionalism deployed systematically for some political purposes more than others? What role does the constitution and ideals of constitutionalism play in the popular imagination? What can the evolution of constitutional law tell us about other social processes? These are only some of the many questions that potential contributors could address.
As a law review with a critical and inter-disciplinary orientation, we welcome contributions across disciplines, jurisdictions and forms, with a particular interest in academic works that critically examine current events with historical traction. We are also very interested in contributions that are not jurisdiction-specific but explore questions of constitutionalism at a comparative or a conceptual level. Along with full-length academic articles, we also welcome other forms such as case-notes, book reviews, review essays, long-form interviews, photoessays, and field reports.
Please submit a 300-word abstract by 30 May 2022. Decisions on accepted abstracts will be announced by 15 June 2022. Complete articles will be due on 01 November 2022. Please send the abstract and any queries to [email protected] with carbon copies to [email protected] and [email protected].
About JGLR
Founded in 2009, the Jindal Global Law Review is the faculty-edited flagship journalof the Jindal Global Law School. JGLR is published twice a year, with each issue curated as a themed dossier on a specific area of both historical and contemporary significance to law. We publish peer-reviewed interdisciplinary and critical legal scholarship—with a focus on the Global South— by academics in law and cognate disciplines that take the conventional and the
creative seriously.
JGLR is especially interested in publishing works that expand and reimagine the boundaries of the legal discipline through innovations in method and form. We understand ‘law’ expansively as an assemblage of ideas, theories, methods, concepts, norms, traditions, politics, moralities, aesthetics, doctrines, policies, pluralities, and life practices.
https://www.springer.com/journal/41020
http://www.jgu.edu.in/jgls/jglr
