Abstract

Faced with the worrisome scenarios of economic globalisation, the author asks himself whether all the extremely serious problems this poses - just because they can be dealt with through international agreements and legislative measures - have anything to do with "constitutionalism," which is to say whether the answer to the "challenges" that they pose to States and supranational organisations can be included among the objectives of the political, philosophical and cultural movement commonly designated as such. Through an analysis of the essential features of the notion of constitutionalism, the author maintains that the truly great challenge posed to constitutionalism today is to rediscover and reaffirm the original legal theory of the limits of political power. That means that theoreticians in this discipline and practical operators alike ought to reflect on the content of their daily work in order to verify whether and, if so, to what extent they have been consistently faithful to this political philosophy and, consequently, to reflect on what has been their role in society and what it ought to be, therefore without labelling as constitutionalism just any theorising that gives a perfunctory nod to the concept.