Werner Gephart/Jan Christoph Suntrup (eds.): Dynamics of Constitutional Cultures. The Cultural Manifestation and Political Force Field of Constitutionalism

Frankfurt am Main, Klostermann 2020

Although it has been claimed that we live in an age of constitutionalism, national and transnational constitutions neither appear as uniform models nor as uncontested means of setting the rules of the game in the political, economic, or religious domain. This book aims to convince readers of a cultural perspective on constitutions. Tying in with the research approach of the Käte Hamburger Center “Law as Culture”, the term “constitutional culture” evokes the multidimensional life of a constitution that cannot be restricted to its – though essential – textual normative provisions and authorized interpreters. Grasping the foundational force and societal influence of constitutions by means of cultural theory and analysis also calls for the investigation of narratives, symbols, rituals, materials, and places in which constitutions are framed and reproduced. With this objective in mind, the contributions to this volume, written by lawyers, sociologists, and political scientists, illuminate different dimensions of the cultural manifestation of constitutions as well as contemporary legal, political, and social struggles arising around their shape and range of influence in various regions of the world.

About the editors

Werner Gephart is a legal scholar, sociologist, and artist. He is Founding Director of the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture”, editor of the volume „Recht“ of the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe (MWG I/22-3), editor of Brill Research Perspectives in “Art and Law”, and président d’honneur of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). His cultural sociology of law is based on studies and publications in the spheres of religion, art, culture and the world of media.

Privatdozent Dr. Jan Christoph Suntrup is a political scientist. He was a longtime researcher and research coordinator at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study “Law as Culture”. In 2017, he completed his habilitation at the University of Bonn with a theoretical and empirical thesis on various dimensions of conflicts of legal cultures. He has ten years of teaching experience at the universities of Munich and Bonn. He is Visiting Professor for cultural theory at the Bundeswehr University Munich since 2020.

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