EU Law and National Constitutions: The Constitutional Dynamics of Multi-Level Governance (Comparative Constitutional Change)

This book provides an in-depth guide to researchers and practitioners who are interested in analysing the evolution of EU law from a national and comparative constitutional law perspective. The volume deals with questions of how EU member states’ constitutional systems, including the subnational tier, interact with the supranational level. It maps the evolution over time of constitutional strategies in the face of multi-level governance and individual contextual factors on an empirical basis. The volume comprises 12 national reports written by leading experts in constitutional and EU law, and in political science. The countries discussed include the six founding member states, together with a selection of member states in which a clear-cut evolution in the national constitutional approach towards the EU can be observed. These comprise the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The latter is included as an “extreme” case in which the change in constitutional strategy over time has resulted in withdrawing from the Union altogether. Taken together, the book assembles the building blocks of an explanatory theory of constitutional strategies in the face of multi-level governance. The volume will be of interest to students and researchers in comparative constitutional law, political science, and multidisciplinary EU studies. It will also be a valuable resource for policy-makers.

Alberto Nicòtina is PhD Candidate in Constitutional Law at the University of Antwerp and Member of the Government and Law Research Group. In 2022, he was Visiting Researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid and at the University of Copenhagen.

Patricia Popelier is Full Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Antwerp. She is Director of the Government & Law Research Group at the University of Antwerp and Senior Research Fellow of the University of Kent, Center for Federal Studies.

Peter Bursens is Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Antwerp. His research agenda focuses on European decision-making, Europeanisation, federalism, and the democratic legitimacy of multi-level political systems.