International legal constitutionalism, legal forms and the need for villains
Résumé
Constitutionalism-bashing has been en vogue for some time in international legal scholarship. International legal scholars have deployed an incredible amount of energy to discredit any pattern of argument, structure of thought, or conceptual framework that comes with constitutionalist overtones. This chapter ventures into the origins and causes of international lawyers’ unbridled fury against what seems a rather marginal movement in international legal thought. It makes the argument that it is the attachment to some legal forms that has fuelled the passionate crusade against constitutionalism and that contemporary debates on international constitutionalism are nothing more than the continuation of a more fundamental discussion on the concept of international law.