Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Integrative Research Institute Law & Society (LSI)

Marcelo Neves is one of Brazil's best-known legal and constitutional theorists. He combines a strong idea of constitutionalism with post-colonial and indigenous realities. He is currently an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the chair of Prof. Bertram Lomfeld. In his lecture on Thursday, June 20, 2024 at 10 a.m. in the Audimax of the Henry Ford Building, he will present the basic ideas of his new book project on the topic of “Transdemocracy”.

Marcelo Neves' project “Transdemocracy” is the next step from his thoughts in "Transconstitutionalism" (Hart Publishing: Oxford 2013). Transconstitutionalism concerns the fact that multiple legal orders of the same or different kind are simultaneously involved with the same constitutional issue or case, i.e. issue or case concerning basic rights or legal limitation and control of political power. Constitutional problems, thus go beyond the state and entangle several legal orders, although no new constitution arises in this context. There are limits of transconstitutionalism in an asymmetric world society. An alternative beyond is "transdemocracy", which is immanent to our social formation. Transdemocracy goes across state boundaries and beyond “We the People”, i.e. popular sovereignty, in order to emphasize the sustainable responsiveness for other peoples in the same world society. “Transdemocracy“ is a question of sustainability of democracy.