O sentido do político na concepção do transconstitucionalismo: Perspectiva sociológica

The question whether constitutions exists orcan exist at all beyond the state has been a central themeof academic dispute in the last decades. This contributiondeparts from the historical insight that extensive forms ofordering possessing constitutional qualities always haveexisted beneath, beside and above the state. In the lastdecades the debate on constitutionalism beyond the statehas however unfolded in two separate discourses: Onewhich focuses on public international organizations andanother which focuses on private structures. The former ismainly driven by political scientists and public lawyers andis characterized by an attempt to rework nation stateconcepts of the political in order to make themcompatible with transnational developments. The latter is,on the other hand, systematically downplaying thepolitical dimension of transnational structures. In order tobridge this gap a number of key dimensions of a specifictransnational concept of the political is being fleshed out.