The domestication of improbability
A (systemic) interpretation of the process of political constitutionalization
Keywords:
constitutionalization, Functional differentiation, Power, contingencyAbstract
The article analyzes the role of constitutionalization in the functional differentiation of modern society, with an emphasis on the visibility of the contingency of power. Based on a dialogue between Claude Lefort and Niklas Luhmann, it supports an interpretation of the concept of a democratic constitution as a mechanism for institutionalizing conflict and processualizing the production of collectivity as an artifact of the political system. In this process, it becomes possible for the law to function as society's immune system, preventing the diffuse interference of power in the operation of other subsystems. Democratic constitutionalization, therefore, not only structures the political system, but also conditions the possibility of functional reproduction of the legal system and, ultimately, of modern social differentiation as a whole.
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