04774nam a22005175i 4500 978-3-031-62098-0 DE-He213 20251030112626.0 cr nn 008mamaa 240713s2024 sz | s |||| 0|eng d 9783031620980 978-3-031-62098-0 10.1007/978-3-031-62098-0 doi K201-487 K140-165 LAB bicssc LAW000000 bisacsh LAB thema Car, Ronald. author. aut http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut 80500 Searching for a Leftist Constitutionalism [electronic resource] : The German Left vs the Rechtsstaat 1848-1949 / by Ronald Car. 1st ed. 2024. Cham : Springer Nature Switzerland : Imprint: Springer, 2024. VI, 208 p. online resource. text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier text file PDF rda Studies in the History of Law and Justice, 2198-9850 ; 30 Introduction: Leftist constitutionalism and the Rechtsstaat – the ongoing relevance of a historical controversy -- The Rechtsstaat and the left in the 1848 revolution -- The Rechtsstaat in Bismarck’s times -- Room for the Rechtsstaat in times of extremes -- Germany year zero: which Rechtsstaat? -- Conclusion: Constitutionalism and the left - a hindrance or an opportunity?. Is there a viable leftist constitutionalism that we can juxtapose with liberal constitutionalism, or is there really no alternative? If the left is considered an a priori enemy of the principle of the rule of law, the equal chance condition proves illusory. Accordingly, those asking for changes to social institutions will deem constitutionalism undemocratic. Hence, in our times of silent de-constitutionalization at the global level and rising populism and democratic backsliding at the national level, this book offers a valuable opportunity to reconsider one of the founding principles of liberal constitutionalism, the Rechtsstaat. It re-examines the controversies that accompanied the affirmation of the concept in a long-term perspective, from 1848 to the post-World War II constitutional debates. Since 1848 the German left has challenged the dominant liberal view of legitimacy, mainly by adopting Marx’s critique of the ideology of law and the state. Thus, the left has had to challenge not only the established order, but also the mainstream political and legal culture generated by the liberal discourse on rights. In search of constitutional viability, the left has oscillated between two tendencies. On the one hand, it has denounced the discourse on rights as an ideological smokescreen used by the ruling class to keep us from paying more attention to the actual level of democracy within the parties, the governmental bodies and in everyday social relations. On the other hand, the left has attempted to adjust its platform to the mainstream idea of constitutional legitimacy by devising its own sozialer Rechtsstaat. However, the break-even point has proven hard to find. If the acceptance of liberal principles was seen as less than wholehearted, leftist constitutional proposals aroused suspicions of a coverup for an unconstitutional rule (Unrechtsstaat). On the other hand, when the left has accepted liberal constitutional principles in full, its potential to challenge the social status quo has ultimately proven to be disappointing. The controversy culminated in a desperate and largely unknown attempt to devise a constitutional compromise between Liberalism and Socialism in East Berlin in the wake of the Cold War. Although doomed to fail and devoid of democratic credibility, the debates of the East German constitutional commission in 1948 offer important insights into a century of experiences, trials and errors in constitution-making seen from the leftist perspective. Law Philosophy. 67596 Law History. 67597 Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History. 67600 SpringerLink (Online service) Springer Nature eBook Printed edition: 9783031620973 Printed edition: 9783031620997 Printed edition: 9783031621000 Studies in the History of Law and Justice, 2198-9850 ; 30 80501 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-62098-0 ZDB-2-LCR ZDB-2-SXLC 61562 61562