Constitutionalizing Globalization

Book excerpt: The gradual development of appropriate constitutional mechanisms and controls is part of a general shift from modern statism to postmodern federalism. Reliance on the sovereignty of the nation-state, which marked the era from the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 to the end of World War II, gave way to the beginning of a world order that links states in various ways through enforceable constitutional bonds. These trends have been recognized by students both of federalism and of international relations. Constitutionalizing Globalization is the first book to join the perspectives of both in order to explain the new paradigm.