The position of EU law in the national legal order – Precedence of EU law – Relationship between legal orders – Foundation of precedence – Autonomous precedence v. precedence based on national constitutional law – The concept of an integrated or composed legal order as a false paradigm – The value of constitutional pluralism to explain the relationship between EU law and national law

Two interpretations of constitutional history: product of chance or of design – Written v. unwritten constitutions – Political and historical backdrop of constitutional development – Evolution of interpretation of specific constitutional texts – Chances of a global constitution

Direct effect of international agreements – WTO – Current jurisprudence and theories – Implications for separation of powers and checks and balances – Justiciability – Criticism of current standards: precision and reciprocity – Reversal of dual concept in EU external relations

On 21 January 2009 the Belgian Constitutional Court terminated a long-lasting dispute over the conditions for affiliation to the care insurance scheme established by the Flemish Community. What started out as a classical conflict over the division of competences in Belgium resulted in a discussion about the impact of European Community (EC) law on the constitutional autonomy of the member states. Despite the entanglement between Belgian constitutional law and EC law, the Flemish care insurance case reveals the different perspectives of both legal orders. In this case, the dialogue between the Belgian Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) through the preliminary ruling procedure could not prevent reverse discrimination.

The European Court of Human Rights' conception of democracy rather thick, inclusive – Increasing number of complaints of violations of Article 3 of the First Protocol – Requirements of this provision that have to be complied with still thin – Limitation clauses of Article 11 to be interpreted strictly – Court's response to Islamic political parties and movements – Requirements with respect to the governance and politics of the States Parties should become stricter – Level of tolerance of religion in the public domain ought to increase – Need for more guidance from the Court not just an academic discussion

Montesquieu's lessons for modern comparative constitutional law – The Spirit of the Laws – The textual bias of normative constitutionalism – The utility of other disciplines to comparative constitutional law – Constitutions as more than mere texts