Post‐Modern Constitutional Theory: A Prospect for the Self‐Organising Society
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.00104 |
| Published date | 01 September 1997 |
| Date | 01 September 1997 |
Post-Modern Constitutional Theory: A Prospect for the
Self-Organising Society
Karl-Heinz Ladeur*
The future of liberalism after the end of history
The breakdown of Communism — a Pyrrhic victory?
In 1989 the victory of the liberal system seemed to be complete. The competing
Communist system had broken down totally, an event that had often been predicted
in the past but which seemed to be quite a surprise when it eventually happened,
1
especially for those sciences focusing on the observation of politics and society.
Seven years later the feeling of confidence, of being witness to a fresh start,
opening an era of cooperation after the end of destructive conflict, has faded away.
The establishment of new liberal regimes in Middle and Eastern Europe has turned
out to be much more complicated than was assumed.
2
The instability of
contemporary Russia seems to be almost more of a threat than was its compact
structure as a superpower. The end of the clash of systems seems to have released
new potential for crisis. This view holds not only for the external relationships
between states but also for their internal structures, not least within the victorious
liberal system itself.
One of the explanations which has recently been given for this phenomenon
draws on the assumption that the East-West conflict itself, or in economic terms
the conflict between Socialism and Capitalism, entailed a paradigmatic structuring
conflict-binding function, which reinserted a potential for adaptability into liberal
institutions by forcing them to be supplemented by elements of the Welfare State.
Moreover, this conflict is said to have had the function of reinforcing the vitality of
Liberalism, by creating a new commonly shared meaning within a system which
was always at risk because of its permanent self-destructive tendencies which
erode public commitments and social bonds.
3
So should we then join Benjamin Constant who exclaimed in the context of the
The Modern Law Review Limited 1997 (MLR 60:5, September). Published by Blackwell Publishers,
108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 617
* Universita¨t Hamburg.
1 This has provoked reflections on the end of history, cf F. Fukuyama, The End of Liberty and the Last
Man (New York: 1992).
2 A.E.D. Howard (ed), Constitution-Making in Eastern Europe (Washington DC: 1993); R. Deppe, H.
Dubiel, U. Roedel, Demokratischer Umbruch in Osteuropa (Frankfurt/M: 1991).
3 H. Dubiel, ‘Zivilreligion in der Massendemokratie’ (1990) Soziale Welt 125; H. Dubiel, Ungewissheit
und Politik (Frankfurt/M: 1994); U. Roedel (ed), Autonome Gesellschaft und Liberta
¨re Demokratie
(Frankfurt/M: 1990).
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