A Sociology of Transnational Constitutions

Chris Thornhill is Professor of Law at the University of Manchester. His research is mainly focused on the sociology of constitutional law, both in domestic and transnational contexts, and he has published a number of influential works in this area. His work has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, Russian and Portuguese.

• Introduction; 1. The national political system and the classical constitutional formula; 2. Constitutional rights and the global political system; 3. The constitution of international law: a sociological approach; 4. The crisis of social inclusion and the paradox of the nation state; 5. Constitutional rights and the inclusion of the nation: systemic transformations I; 6. Constitutional rights and the inclusion of the nation: systemic transformations II; 7. The autonomy of the post-national legal structure: the auto-constituent constitution; Conclusion.

'Using a historical-sociological approach, Thornhill examines the social processes that have locked national states into an increasingly transnational constitutional order. He finds that the growth of global constitutional norms has provided a stabilizing framework for the functions of state institutions.' Law and Social Inquiry