Chairs
Mariana Canotilho macanot@tribconstitucional.pt; Luís Meneses do Vale lvale@fd.uc.pt

This workshop endeavours to explore whether, and to what extent, the constitutionalism of the common(s) may serve as a response to the contemporary democratic crisis. The common(s) may be conceptualised not merely as resources, practices, or institutions, but also as a constitutional subject in its own right and as a framework for constitutional and political analysis.

This reframing stands in contrast to classical constitutionalism, which has traditionally been anchored in the sovereign state, individual rights, and the institutional balance of powers. By shifting the analytical lens towards the common(s), the workshop will interrogate whether constitutional legitimacy and authority must inevitably be tethered to state institutions, or whether novel loci of political power and participation may emerge from the collective stewardship of shared resources and practices.

From this perspective, the constitutionalism of the common(s) posits the possibility of alternative democratic arrangements that transcend representative and rights-based models. Participants are invited to critically examine how commons-based approaches might reframe the relationship between public goods, citizenship, and the political community, and whether such approaches can counteract democratic disenchantment by engendering more inclusive, participatory, and decentralised forms of governance.

Much hinges upon how the common(s) are delineated and situated—whether material (land, water, infrastructure), digital (knowledge, data, networks), or social (practices of solidarity and participation).

The workshop will enquire whether commons institutions should be entrenched within existing constitutional orders, whether they demand a reconfiguration of the State’s role in protecting and enabling them, or whether they call for envisioning constitutional structures where the common(s) themselves become foundational.

The workshop also invites comparative, case-based, and theoretical contributions, including enquiries into how commons constitutionalism intersects with traditional democratic safeguards and how it might address the structural drivers of the democratic crisis, such as polarisation, exclusion, and technocratic alienation. Interdisciplinary perspectives from law, political science, sociology, and philosophy are especially welcome.