The Rise and Fall of the European Constitution - by Nw Barber & Maria Cahill & Richard Ekins (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The conference on which this collection is based was held under the auspices of the Programme for the Foundations of Law & Constitutional Government"--Acknowledgements, page [v].

Book Synopsis

The Draft European Constitution was arguably both an attempt to constitutionalise the Union, re-framing that project in the language of the state, and an attempt to stretch the boundaries of constitutionalism itself, re-imagining that concept to accommodate the sui generis European Union. The (partial) failure of this project is the subject of this collection of essays. The collection brings together leading EU constitutional scholars to consider, with the benefit of hindsight, the purportedly constitutional character of the proposed Constitutional Treaty, the reasons for its rejection by voters in France and the Netherlands, the ongoing implications of this episode for the European project, and the lessons it teaches us about what constitutionalism really means.

Review Quotes

[T]his "ripe" collection of recollections and reflections on the most essential and controversial issues that let the EU's constitutional moment be bygone presents an inspiring, critical and yet affirmative account on the rise and resurgence of the European Constitution.
Journal of Common Market Studies

[W]orthwhile reading not only by EU law and political science scholars, but also by a broader public.
Common Market Law Review

About the Author

NW Barber is Professor of Constitutional Law and Theory at the University of Oxford.
Maria Cahill is Lecturer in Law at the University College Cork.
Richard Ekins is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oxford.