The EU and Constitutional Time

The Significance of Time in Constitutional Change

Massimo Fichera, Associate Professor in Philosophy of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Maastricht, the Netherlands

This insightful book examines the inherent fragility of modern liberal constitutionalism and shows how it is in the nature of every constitutional community, including the European Union, to try to protract its own duration as much as possible. The book considers the strengths, weaknesses, tensions and contradictions of European constitutionalism using the lens of constitutional time.

‘Massimo Fichera examines the constitutional dimensions of the European Union in this learned and intellectually rich volume. He explains but also challenges many familiar constitutional concepts and categories. This book brims with ideas and is critical reading for anyone concerned with the problems and promises of modern constitutionalism.’
– Richard Kay, University of Connecticut, US

‘Massimo Fichera has produced a highly original and enlightening extended essay on the way in which the passage of time is factored into the constitutional imaginary both of the modern State and of the ‘postmodern’ European Union. In so doing, he offers an important response to those voices – theoretical and practical – that doubt the capacity of Europe to frame a common political future.’
– Neil Walker, University of Edinburgh, UK

‘This book defends the ambitious thesis that if constitutions articulate what a collective commits to over time, so, too, different interpretations of the temporality of commitment inform different constitutional ideal types. The fractal temporality of communal constitutionalism is well suited, to deal with the challenges of societal commitment in multi-level governance.’
– Hans Lindahl, Tilburg University, the Netherlands and Queen Mary University of London, UK