Legal Pluralism and Progressive Constitutionalism: An introduction to the South African challenge for Post-National Governance
| Jurisdiction | South Africa |
| Citation | (2015) 2(1) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 1 |
| Date | 24 May 2019 |
| Pages | 1-27 |
| Published date | 24 May 2019 |
| Author | Luca Siliquini-Cinelli |
LEGAL PLURALISM AND PROGRESSIVE
CONSTITUTIONALISM: AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN CHALLENGE FOR
POST-NATIONAL GOVERNANCE
LUCA SILIQUINI-CINELLI*
Lecturer, School of Law, Faculty of Business and Law, Deakin University, Australia
The aim of this article is to contribute to the current academic debate on pluralist
mechanisms of post-national governance as a particular type of ‘stateless law’. More
precisely, this article is conceived as an introduction to aid further research on the shape
(and extent) that post-national governance may eventually assume (and reach) in South
Africa. Attention is, therefore,paid to legal pluralism as a key factor of pluralist settings of
post-national government. An overview of the essence and features of post-national
governance is provided, and a brief comparison is made between hard hierarchical and
soft-networked forms of governance. In pursuing the suggested roadmap, referenceis made
to the current European landscape on post-national governance, which is ontologically
inevitable in discussing the essence, structure, aims, challenges and limitations of
post-national governance. Moreover, the necessity of adopting a comparative modus
investigandi is due to the circumstance that although South Africa and the European
Union (EU) share important elements (e.g., legal pluralism, financial instability and
future common challenges), South Africa has an extremely progressive constitution — a
result that the EU has been unable to achieve formally. Thus, while explaining why
South Africa may representfertile ground for such an architecture of governance, this article
discusses why the South African Constitution may be a ‘value add’ that may help
post-national governance avoid the difficulties thus far encountered on the European
continent.
[Le but de cet article est de contribuer au débat académique en cours sur les mécanismes
pluralistes de gouvernance post-nationale comme un type particulier de «droit sans état».
Plus précisément, cet article est conçu comme une introduction au fin d’aide des nouvelles
recherches sur la forme (et mesure) que la gouvernance post-nationale peut éventuellement
assumer (et atteindre) en Afrique du Sud. Après avoir donné un aperçu de l’essence et des
caractéristiques de la gouvernance post-nationale, une attention particulière sera accordée à
l’élément qui toute analyse des paramètres spécifiquement pluralistes relatifs à la
gouvernance post-nationale devrait traiter: le pluralisme juridique. Enfin, il offrira une
brève comparaison entre les formes de gouvernance basées sur les aspects hiérarchiques et
celles fondées sur les réseaux.
Dans la poursuite de cette analyse proposée, il sera nécessaire de se référerpartialement
à la situation européenne actuelle sur la gouvernance post-nationale. Il est en effet
ontologiquement inévitable pour expliquer l’essence, la structure, les objectifs, les défis, et
les limites de la gouvernance post-nationale, sans se référer au paradigme européen. En
outre, la nécessité d’adopter un modus investigandi comparative est due à la circonstance
que, bien que l’Union européenne et l’Afrique du Sud partagent des éléments importants
(par exemple, le pluralisme juridique, l’instabilité financière, des défis futurs communs,
etc.), l’Afrique du Sud a une Constitution très progressiste, a résultat que l’Union
* The author extends his thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful
comments on the earlier draft of this article.
1
(2015) 2(1) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 1
© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd
Europeenne a été incapable d’obtenir formellement. Ainsi, tout en expliquant pourquoi
l’Afrique du Sud peut représenter un terrain fertile pour une telle architecture de la
gouvernance, cet article va également introduire la discussion sur les raisons pour lesquelles
la Constitution sud-africaine peut être une valeur adjointe qui peut aider la gouvernance
post-nationale à éviter les difficultés qu’ont été révélées sur le continent européen jusqu’au
présent.]
Keywords: legal pluralism, post-national governance, progressive consti-
tutionalism
Abbreviations: ECtHR European Court of Human Rights
EU European Union
GDP gross domestic product
NGO non-governmental organisation
US United States
Introduction
‘The messages we received from [the] remote past were neither intended for us,
nor chosen by us, but are the casual relics of climate, geography, and human
activity. They, too, remind us of the whimsical dimensions of our knowledge
and the mysterious limits of our powers of discovery.’— DJ Boorstin, Hidden
History
1
Some of the thoughts and observations contained in this contribution were
first presented in a preliminary form at the ‘Law in a Changing Transnational
World: A Workshop forYoung Scholars’, hosted by the Zvi Meitar Center
for Advanced Legal Studies at the Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv
University, in October 2013. On that occasion the author presented a paper
entitled ‘The Lure of Post-National European Private Law as a Semi-
Stateless Scheme of Intelligibility: A ‘‘Multi-Layered’’, ‘‘Inter-Institutional’’,
‘‘Net-worked’’ Order or a ‘‘Semi-Hierarchical’’Nomos?’, which investigated
whether the Europeanisation of private law may be achieved by promoting a
soft form of networked architecture or fostering other solutions (e.g.,
creation of a European civil code). The purview of that investigation differs
from the one that characterises this study. Nonetheless, it will be necessary to
refer briefly to some considerations that were made in Tel-Aviv.
This article was conceived as a contribution to the current academic
debate on pluralist mechanisms of post-national governance as the new
experimentalist architecture rooted in insulated forms of ‘stateless law’, and
channels of regulation and administration. However, the analysis embarked
on is not intended to offer conclusive answers about whether there is scope
for such channels of governance in South Africa. Quite the contrary, this
article is an introduction to aid further research on the legitimation, shape,
extent and risks that post-national governance may eventually achieve,
assume, reach and cause within the South African framework. In doing so, it
is necessary to conduct a brief comparison with the current European
landscape on post-national governance. It is indeed ontologically inevitable
1
Boorstin, DJ (1989) Hidden History: Exploring Our Secret Past 17.
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW IN AFRICA VOL. 2, NO. 1, 20152
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