Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- List of Acronyms
- 1 New constitutionalism and world order
- Part I Concepts
- 2 Market civilization, new constitutionalism and world order
- 3 New constitutionalism and the commodity form of global capitalism
- 4 The rule of law as the Grundnorm of the new constitutionalism
- Part II Genealogy, origins and world order
- Part III Multilevel governance and neo-liberalization
- Part IV Trade, investment and taxation
- Part V Social reproduction, welfare and ecology
- Part VI Globalization from below and prospects for a just new constitutionalism
- Glossary
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - New constitutionalism and the commodity form of global capitalism
from Part I - Concepts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- List of Acronyms
- 1 New constitutionalism and world order
- Part I Concepts
- 2 Market civilization, new constitutionalism and world order
- 3 New constitutionalism and the commodity form of global capitalism
- 4 The rule of law as the Grundnorm of the new constitutionalism
- Part II Genealogy, origins and world order
- Part III Multilevel governance and neo-liberalization
- Part IV Trade, investment and taxation
- Part V Social reproduction, welfare and ecology
- Part VI Globalization from below and prospects for a just new constitutionalism
- Glossary
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter analyzes new constitutionalism as the juridical foundation for the global expansion of capitalism. It illustrates what is ‘new’ about new constitutionalism in terms of the constitution of new forms of private property rights that contribute to the expansion of capitalism. This is achieved through the progressive enclosure of public into private property and through the legitimation of private appropriation over previously non-commodified activities, processes and resources. More specifically, this analysis posits the globalization of the commodity form of international law as a necessary dimension of a transnational market civilization that is unifying diverse peoples and places through the logic of commodification. This logic is bringing hitherto untapped activities and resources into the ambit of capitalist production and reproduction and is affecting profound alterations in state–society relations throughout the world. New privatized modes of appropriation and legitimation are emerging as the commodity form of law achieves transnational scope and significance. Privatized systems reformulate public modes of governance and are naturalized and legitimized as public and ‘constitutional’ duties to enforce the rule of law. In doing so, they privilege neo-liberal market fundamentalism and the public protection of private interests as the common sense of market civilization. The chapter therefore explores how the ‘new’ of new constitutionalism combines with old legal forms to constitute novel forms of private property that are advancing the commodification of nature. The chapter also raises the possibilities for resistance to further expansion of the commodity form of law through the recognition of rights that challenge neo-liberal discipline and the disembedding of human relations from social control.
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- New Constitutionalism and World Order , pp. 45 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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