Law and Democracy in Neil MacCormick's Legal and Political Theory The Post-Sovereign Constellation

Neil D. MacCormick made outstanding contributions to the understanding of law and democracy under conditions of pluralism. His institutional theory of law has compellingly elucidated the close connection between the normative character of law as a means of social integration and legal social practices. This has contributed not only to synthetise some of the key insights of the legal theories of Kelsen, Hart and Dworkin, but has broken new ground by undermining the ‘monolithic’ and ‘nation-state’ centered character of standard legal theories, leading the new emphasis on the argumentative character of legal practices which has come to dominate legal studies since the late seventies. This makes of MacCormick the first genuine theorist of European constitutional law in Beyond the Sovereign State and Questioning Sovereignty; and also the pioneer in rethinking legal and democratic theory from a post-sovereign vantage point. His ‘liberal nationalist’ political theory has strived to clarify how nationalism can contribute to stabilise democracy and thus lay the ground for a cosmopolitan order. This led him to enter the political arena as Member of the European Parliament (and Member of the Convention that drafted the Constitutional Treaty), something which sharpened his insights on federalism, nationalism and sovereignty.

This volume collects newly commissioned articles by leading legal and political theorists. It was intended as a celebration of MacCormick’s work on the occasion of the completion of his series on Law, State and Practical Reason. After the sad passing away of MacCormick, it becomes a homage and salute to the Scottish philosopher, in which authors engage in a critical reconstruction of MacCormick’s work, aimed at revealing the connections between the two sides of his opus and at furthering his insights in each specific field.