Introduction

• Author: Alexander Somek
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12339
• Date: 01 September 2019
• Published date: 01 September 2019

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Introduction

Alexander Somek*

Jürgen Habermashas turned 90 this year. To mark the occasion,the European Law Journal solicited a number of papers

that more or less closelyaddress a key idea that he introduced in orderto designate historical transitions that have left

theirmark in the course of both globalisationand Europeanisation.The idea is capturedin the concept of the “postnational

constellation”, whichis the title of the core essaythat was published in the book bearing the same name in1998.

1

The use of the term “constellation”indicates the legacy of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Adorno devel-

oped it in conversations with Walter Benjamin and used the astronomical metaphor in order to account for a loose

and historically contingent connection of elements inherent in a situation.

2

Accounting of a constellation, thus under-

stood, entails abstaining from synthesising a manifold into the unity of a coherent whole. Habermas chose this met-

aphor aptly for his essay, which discusses a whole range of issues before it turns to the central question of what might

become of democracy and solidarity once social integration moves beyond the nation state. Against the backdrop of

the idea that societies are capable of directing themselves democratically, the postnational constellation confronted

everyone with overwhelming complexity giving rise to widespread cluelessness.

3

Both the constraints faced by nation

states finding themselves exposed to the economic forces of international competition, and the waning faith in the

legitimacy of isolated national self‐determination that creates externalities for outsiders, raised the question of which

set of institutions might restore a type of democratic control that can be both effective and legitimate. On both

counts, Habermas realised, the nation state required re‐embedding into a broader trans‐or supranational context.

When he was writing The Postnational Constellation, European integration was believed to provide a model for the

step that had to be taken in order to establish inclusive supranational political control. Even though at that time the

European Union was at the top of its game and, in a sense, booming, Habermas was already then aware of shortcom-

ings that were to play out only later. Nevertheless, for years to come, Habermas remained a highly sympathetic and

critical observer of the European Union and wrote a number of influential essays concerning its constitution.

4

Only

recently has he grown ever more sceptical of the “executive federalism”showing its authoritarian face in cases of

crisis management and more pessimistic in the face of the Union's inability to rein in centrifugal nationalist forces.

We thought that it would be fitting, 20‐odd years on, to revisit Habermas's ideas. Given the stature of Habermas

as a public intellectual, it should not come as a surprise that the contributions concern themselves with the overall

political and social situation of our time.

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use,

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© 2019 The Authors. European Law Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

* University of Vienna, Department of Legal Philosophy, Vienna, Austria.

1

See Jürgen Habermas, Die postnationale Konstellation: Politische Essays (Suhrkamp, 1998), 91–169; The English version was published by MIT Press in 2001.

The full title of the essays reads “The postnational constellation and the future of democracy”.

2

See Theodor W. Adorno, Negative Dialektik (Suhrkamp, 1966), 162.

3

Habermas, above, n. 1 (German edition), 95.

4

See, for example, Jürgen Habermas, Europe: The Faltering Project (Polity, 2009); Jürgen Habermas, The Future of the European Union: A Response (Polity, 2013).

Received: 10 September 2019 Accepted: 11 September 2019

DOI: 10.1111/eulj.12339

476 Eur Law J. 2019;25:476–479.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/eulj