Imagining Statehood and Constitutionalism in Europe

This chapter introduces the whole volume, explaining the concept of constitutional imaginary, based on previous work, and also the book’s key aim: to ‘turn the tables’ between the ‘old’ and post-communist Europe, letting the latter speak for itself and define the terms of the debate between the two. The three themes emerging from post-communist Europe are presented: first, how the nature of statehood transforms when the state integrates into a supranational structure and how the imagined ‘other’ (e.g., the enemy, the Soviet Union or even Europe) influences the key concepts of national constitutional law, such as sovereignty, peoplehood or citizenship; second, the uses and misuses of history in the construction of constitutional imaginary; finally, third, there have been varieties of liberalism at play in the period of post-communist transformation (the ‘end of history’, from the perspective of the West). These need to be analysed separately, before the hegemonic ‘liberal ideology’ can be criticized. The greatest hope for this volume is that it will provoke further reflections and debates in both the West and East and that the latter will not only mirror the West, but becomes a true partner in the debate on the shape and future of Europe.