Martin Loughlin is Professor of Public Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. A Fellow of the British Academy, he is series editor of Oxford Constitutional Theory and author of The Idea of Public Law, The British Constitution: A Very Short Introduction, and Political Jurisprudence.
Loughlin has written a short, dense book of considerable intellectual and political importance. Against Constitutionalism is an essential argument, forcefully made, and bristling with both learning and thinking. -- Jedediah Purdy, author of <i>This Land Is Our Land: The Struggle for a New Commonwealth</i> Against Constitutionalism does a wonderful job detailing the change in the nature of constitutional government that has taken place over the past hundred years and why those changes matter. This is a book that every serious student of constitutional government needs to read and think about. -- Mark A. Graber, author of <i>Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil</i> In this forceful critique of constitutionalism, Loughlin supplies us not only with an account of the emergence of a new ideology but also with a compelling analysis of its pathologies. It will surely engage the minds of jurists and legal scholars, but it should also be closely read by democratic theorists, who will find in these pages answers to questions they have been pondering for some time. -- Chandran Kukathas, author of <i>Immigration and Freedom</i> Constitutionalism and democracy, two notions that we are used to perceiving as a pair, are here opposed to each other. Loughlin's thesis-that constitutionalism must cede if democracy shall thrive-is provocative enough to make this brilliantly written book one with which scholars will have to contend. -- Dieter Grimm, former Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany A tightly-presented but far-ranging survey of both legal theory and practical example, Against Constitutionalism is a thoughtful and thought-provoking introduction to and analysis of the subject-matter. * Complete Review *