NEOCONSTITUTIONALISMS (A CATALOGUE OF PROBLEMS AND ARGUMENTS)

Abstract

The article offers a complete vision of the problems tackled by and the fundamental theses defended by neoconstitutionalism (or neoconstitutionalisms), a current which tends to be transformed into a global reply, a new political culture that is present in all contemporary debates on legal and political philosophy. After characterising the model of the constitutional state, the author analyses four types of neoconstitutionalism that are developed from four different problems. In the first place he deals with neoconstitutionalism as a political philosophy that considers the constitutional state as the best form of organising political society. He secondly analyses the contribution of neoconstitutionalism to the theoretical debate on the nature of norms and their interpretation which enables him to present it as a important renewal of the positivist theory of law. Thirdly the author gives the neoconstitutionalist reply in the conceptual debate about what should be understood by law and how to explain its relationship with morality. Fourthly, he presents neoconstitutionalist models of legal science. Finally, by way of conclusion, he sees to respond to the question whether neoconstitutionalism may be an alternative to the dialectic between iusnaturalism and positivism.