A (more) cosmopolitan sociology of constitutions: Marcelo neves' theory of symbolic constitutionalization

Abstract

The paper introduces the work of Brazilian sociologist and constitutional theorist Marcelo Neves, presenting his contribution as a non-European, postcolonial approach to the process of constitutionalization. Firstly, it shows how Neves' work relates to a long-standing tradition of Brazilian social thought, attempting to overcome its shortcomings. In so doing, Neves does not dismiss entirely however some of this tradition's powerful insights. The paper then argues that Neves puts "social exclusion" at the center of efforts to grasp processes of constitutionalization in the peripheries of world society. For him, the world periphery would be characterized by precarious forms of citizenship that Neves refers to as forms of under-integration. Neves' approach then proposes a sophisticated concept, that of "symbolic constitutionalization", as a mechanism to institutionally stabilize forms of socialization that reproduce exclusion in the peripheries of world society.