Reconfiguring the Politics–Law Relationship in the Integration Project through Conflicts–Law Constitutionalism

This paper argues that the relationship between law and politics must be reconfigured within the E uropean U nion. Dissecting recent crises in economic, social and political organisation within E urope with reference to the three ‘fictitious’ commodities of K arl P olanyi, we find that law in E urope has contributed to de‐legalisation, de‐socialisation and disenfranchisement. Moving on to review the potential for law to respond to crisis through new paradigms of conflict resolution as suggested by R alf D ahrendorf, we find that the steering capacity of law is nevertheless limited if it fails to establish a sustaining relationship with politics. Our conclusions are modest: conflict–law constitutionalism cannot solve E urope's many crises. However, it does represent a new paradigm of law within which relations between E uropean law and E uropean politics might be re‐established—a vital step to overcoming crisis.