Socialist Constitutionalism and the Communist Polity

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-62160-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Marx and Marxisms

This collection of specially commissioned essays provides the first incisive collaborative intervention to ongoing debates about law and politics under capitalism from an explicitly socialist constitutionalist perspective.

Heterodox literature on constitutional studies, to a large extent and with a few notable exceptions, shares a rejection of Marxist analytical principles. Moving beyond the formalism and instrumentalism, this volume will engage with the question: what differentiates a Marxist conception of socialist constitutionalism and the role of institutional forms in building socialism, from republican and post-Marxist conceptions? Drawing inspiration from socialist thinkers and historical attempts to build socialism, the contributors explain the relevance of socialist conceptions of democracy and rights for contemporary struggles for social emancipation. They combine historical and theoretical analyses to review socialist constitutional theory and practice, while thinking about the future of democracy and rights in a communist polity. The contributions deal with a variety of topical issues, including the relationship between state, law, and society; the relationship between constitutional law and revolutionary social change; right as legal superstructure and right as a form of social consciousness; the ethical grounds of communism; socialist conceptions of right; and principles for a socialist constitutionalism.

Consolidating Marxist approaches to public law and constitutional theory, Socialist Constitutionalism and the Communist Polity offers both a rigorous contribution to the elaboration of Marxist theory and a re-examination of foundational constitutional concepts, questions, and debates that will help to orient non-specialist readers

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chrysis, Alexandros

Kivotidis, Dimitrios

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Staats- und Verfassungsrecht
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Editors’ Introduction. 1. Democracy, State, and Constitutions in Socialist Transition: Socialist Revolutions as the Benchmark?  2. Socialism, Working Class Self-Emancipation, and Democratic Forms. 3. Postponing Paradise: British Socialism and Constitutional Instrumentalisation. 4. Gramsci’s Politics and Socialist Constitutionalism. 5. A Socialist Constitutionalism for the Twenty-First Century. 6. Emergencies of the Possible: Exception, Revolution, and the Legal Past. 7. Right, Social Consciousness and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat: On the Philosophical Foundations of the Discussion on Socialist Constitutionalism.  8. Freedom: The Normative Ground of Marx’s Revolutionary Communism. 9. Alternative Socialist/Communist Constitutional Futures in Pashukanis, Kojève, and Bloch. 10. Proposals for a Socialist Constitution

Über Autor(innen)

Alexandros Chrysis is Professor of History of Ideas and Philosophy of History at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. His main research interests refer to Enlightenment and Marxism. While dealing with theories of state and revolution, Chrysis published True Democracy as a Prelude to Communism: The Marx of Democracy (2018) and The Marx of Communism: Setting Limits in the Realm of Communism (2022).

Dimitrios Kivotidis is Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at City St George's, University of London. His research explores themes related to public law, constitutional theory, democracy, rights, and social change from a critical perspective. He is the author of The Dialectics of Democracy: Towards a Socialist Constitutionalism (Routledge, 2024), Dictatorship (Routledge, 2021), and several articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters.