Introduction: Constitutionalism Beyond the Nation-State
In a world where countries are increasingly interconnected, scholars are actively debating a crucial question: Should the core principles of governance — constitutionalism — exist beyond the boundaries of the nation-state?
Yaniv Roznai’s Theory of Supranational Constitution-Making
Leading this important discussion is Yaniv Roznai, whose work Crafting Supranational Constitutions challenges the traditional understanding of how constitutions are created. Traditionally, constitutions have been viewed as fixed rulebooks, established once by a powerful founding authority. Roznai rejects this static view. He argues that constitutions are living frameworks — continuously adapted, contested, and reshaped through ongoing negotiations that often cross-national borders.
Roznai’s theory redefines constitution-making as a collaborative process rather than a top-down act. It involves multiple actors — national courts, international legal bodies, legislatures, civic organizations, and political systems — all influencing one another.
By focusing on how constitutional norms function in practice rather than merely on their written text, Roznai reveals how evolving standards, power dynamics, and shared identities flow between different legal systems in our increasingly globalized world.
Laying Out Roznai’s Central Arguments – The Transformation of Constitutional Power
Roznai suggests that the way we think about controlling and changing a constitution has changed drastically, moving beyond the scope of a single nation.
- Joint Authority over Basic Law:
Joint Authority over Basic Law
The Core Idea: The power to create or change fundamental constitutional rules (Basic Law) is no longer held by one country alone, but is shared.
Traditionally, the final authority over a constitution belonged exclusively to the national state. Roznai disputes this strict national control. He argues that in major transnational systems (like the European Union), this fundamental power must be split. Authority is now exercised jointly—through compromise, negotiation, and cooperation—between the individual countries and the larger international organization.
- The Coexistence of Multiple Rule Systems:
The Coexistence of Multiple Rule Systems
The Core Idea: A healthy international system allows many different sets of rules and laws (national and international) to operate together.
Roznai’s model is built on the reality that legal orders are plural. This means that supranational constitutional frameworks succeed because multiple, overlapping legal systems exist at the same time. This blend of laws is not a threat to a country’s independence. Instead, the mixture of national traditions with international commitments (like agreed standards on human rights) creates new, blended constitutional identities.
- Judges as Connectors and Rule Transporters:
Judges as Connectors and Rule Transporters
The Core Idea: Judges are the primary movers of legal change, communicating with courts in other countries to spread international standards.
Roznai emphasizes that the judicial branch is vital to this transformation. When national constitutional courts exchange ideas, interpretations, and past rulings—a process called judicial dialogue—they become pathways for new legal principles to move across borders. By including these international principles into their own national decisions, judges help construct a broader constitutional space that cannot be limited by traditional national walls.
Reimagining Constitutional Identity Beyond the Nation-State
Roznai’s work significantly changes how we think about a nation’s core legal identity when it’s part of larger global systems. He believes that this identity isn’t something set in stone from the past or from culture. Instead, it’s something that changes over time as a country interacts with outside legal and political influences.
- Always Changing:
Always Changing
A nation’s fundamental legal identity isn’t fixed. It grows and changes through new interpretations of laws, changes to those laws, and reactions to worldwide trends. When global rules—like those for human rights or democracy—spread, they affect how countries see their own laws. This leads to slow but significant changes in how nations understand their own constitutional identity.
- Managing Conflicts:
Managing Conflicts
Roznai understands that there’s always a struggle between a country’s independence and the power of global bodies. When global rules clash with established national principles, he suggests finding a middle ground through discussion, not a fight. This means that courts and decision-makers should continuously work to find a balance that protects a nation’s core legal identity without giving it up entirely.
- Identity Works in Two Ways:
Identity Works in Two Ways
According to Roznai, a nation’s constitutional identity acts as both a legal rule and a story about itself. It’s like a defense mechanism that protects what makes the country unique, and at the same time, it helps it connect with other countries in a shared global framework. This double role gives countries freedom: they can push back against, adjust to, or welcome changes from the global system as situations change.
Worldwide Impact of His Legal Thought
Roznai’s thinking does more than just discuss legal theories; it actively changes how law is practiced.
His most important work is the book he published in 2017, Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments: The Limits of Amendment Powers (Oxford University Press). This book, along with his recent research on world rules that limit national power, has deeply reformed how constitutional law is understood globally.
Judges in many regions—including Europe, Latin America, and Asia—often look at his writing. They use his ideas when they have difficult cases about:
- Constitutional rules that cannot be changed.
- Times when democracy starts to weaken.
- The actual limits of a country’s power.
Therefore, Roznai’s research connects the world of academic ideas with the world of real law. It provides useful methods to study, criticize, and invent new ways to think about the foundation of modern government rules.
Literature Review and Critical Assessment
This section looks at how recent studies support and improve upon Roznai’s ideas about how large groups of countries create their own shared rules.
- Marlene Wind (2020) points out that the European Union is facing many big problems right now. She believes this shows that the EU’s “rulebook” is not set in stone, but is always changing and being debated. This fits perfectly with Roznai’s idea that these kinds of rules evolve over time.
- Agustín José Menéndez (2022) emphasizes how discussions between judges help create these shared rules. This is similar to Roznai’s thought that courts play a big part in shaping how these super-national rules are made.
- Joanna Lam (2021) studies how shared rules become part of national systems “from the bottom up.” This means that everyday administrative tasks and informal ways of doing things gradually build supranational ideas into the way countries operate.
All these studies together strongly support Roznai’s view that a super-national rulebook is never truly finished. It’s an ongoing process that is shaped by conversations, spreading ideas, and discussions, rather than being created all at once.
Conclusion
Yaniv Roznai’s idea of creating constitutions that work across borders completely changes how we think about the connection between a country’s laws and wider international law.
He suggests that constitutional law is not a rigid list of rules, but a continuous conversation. This approach moves beyond the outdated belief that a nation’s supreme power (sovereignty) never changes. Instead, Roznai promotes a system where power is shared, laws come from many different places, and different courts and judges work together to shape new rules.
In Roznai’s view, constitutions are active tools, not historical artifacts. They are constantly being updated and improved because of the natural tension between global standards and the specific needs found in local areas.
His ideas provide a clear way to understand constitutionalism in our highly connected world. While core issues—such as who holds power and what makes a law legitimate—are always being discussed and redefined, they must remain firmly based on shared democratic values and the principle that everyone must follow the law.
