Global Constitutionalism from European and East Asian Perspectives

Global Constitutionalism argues that parts of international law can be understood as being grounded in the rule of law and human rights, and insists that international law can and should be interpreted and progressively developed in the direction of greater respect for and realization of those principles. Global Constitutionalism has been discussed primarily by European scholars. Yet without the engagement of scholars from other parts of the world, the universalist claims underlying Global Constitutionalism ring hollow. This is particularly true with regard to East Asia, where nearly half the world's population and a growing share of global economic and military capacities are located. Are East Asian perspectives on Global Constitutionalism similar to European perspectives? Against the background of current power shifts in international law, this book constitutes the first cross-cultural work on various facets of Global Constitutionalism and elaborates a more nuanced concept that fits our times.

Part I. Groundwork: Interplay between European Ideas and East Asian Perspectives: 1. Perpetuum mobile: before and after global constitutionalism Toshiki Mogami; 2. China's socialist rule of law and global constitutionalism Bin Li; 3. Global Constitutionalism and East Asian perspectives in the context of political economy Christine Schwöbel-Patel; 4. Global Constitutionalism and European legal experiences: can European constitutionalism be applied to the rest of the world? Takao Suami; 5. On the history and theory of global constitutionalism Mattias Kumm; Part II. Pursuit of Common Values: Human Rights and the Rule of Law from East Asian Perspectives: 6. Are we talking the same language? The socio-historical context of global constitutionalism in East Asia as seen from Japan's experiences Dimitri Vanoverbeke; 7. Chinese perspectives on the rule of law: prospects and challenges for global constitutionalism Matthieu Burnay; 8. Cosmopolitanising rights practice: the case of South Korea Yoon Jin Shin; Part III. Horizontal Interactions: Trade, Environment and Development: 9. Global Constitutionalism: the social dimension Anne Peters; 10. Development issues in the discourse of Global Constitutionalism Hyuck-Soo Yoo; 11. A new idea for constructing the global legal mechanism of the right to development Xigen Wang; 12. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: the mixed character of constitutionalism in the global economic governance Kazuyori Ito; 13. Conceptualising global environmental constitutionalism in a regional context: perspectives from Asia and Europe Louis J. Kotzé; Part IV. Implementation and Enforcement: 14. The emerging principle of functional complementarity for coordination among national and international jurisdictions: intellectual hegemony and heterogeneous world Kaoru Obata; 15. Human rights NGOs and Global Constitutionalism from a Chinese academic perspective Guimei Bai; 16. Global constitutionalism and private governance: the discrete contribution of voluntary sustainability standards Axel Marx and Jan Wouters; 17. International courts and tribunals and the rule of law in Asia Geir Ulfstein; Conclusion: East Asia and Global Constitutionalism; 18. Global Constitutionalism for East Asia: its potential to promote constitutional principles Takao Suami.

Examines aspects of international and national law including human rights, rule of law, economic integration and social values and engages scholars from East Asia who critique Western ideas, enrich them through non-western practices and help produce transcultural universal categories of international constitutional law.

Takao Suami is a Professor at Waseda University Law School, Tokyo, Japan. He studied law at the University of Tokyo (LL.B.), Cornell Law School (LL.M.) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (LL.M.). He was a visiting professor of Duke University Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He served as the President of the European Union Studies Association – Japan, and is currently a member of the board of trustees of the Japanese Society of International Law. His teaching and research interests lie in EU law, international economic law, and judicial policy making in Japan.
Anne Peters is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Heidelberg, a Professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Freie Universität Berlin, and Basel, and a William C. Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan. She has been a member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) in respect of Germany (2011–15) and served as the President of the European Society of International Law (2010–12). Her current research interests relate to public international law including its history, global animal law, global governance and global constitutionalism.
Dimitri Vanoverbeke is a professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and Director of the Department of East Asian and Arabic Studies. He lectures in Japanese Studies (law, politics and society) and also lectures in the Europe-Asia: Interactions and Comparisons module of the Master of Arts in European Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (East Asian Politics). His current research interests relate to law and society and to the political dynamics in Japan and in Southeast Asia. Aside from publishing on the past and present of the legal system in Japan, he also publishes on the relationship between Japan and the EU.
Mattias Kumm is the Inge Rennert Professor of Law at New York University Law School as well as Professor for 'Rule of Law in the Age of Globalisation' at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Managing Director of the Center of Global Constitutionalism at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. His research focuses on basic issues and contemporary challenges in Global, European and Comparative Public Law and Legal Philosophy. He was a Professor at Harvard University, Yale University, Connecticut, and the European University Institute, Florence and is a Co-Founder and Co-Editor in Chief of Global Constitutionalism.