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Abstract

This paper engages in the current debate on legal fragmentation and social inclusion from the perspective of systems theory. Its particular focus is directed at the changing patterns of social inclusion/exclusion under the condition of the emerging constitutional discourses of world law. While fragmented global law would still be able to safeguard functional differentiation, the neutralization of exclusionary dynamics is successively failing. This failure is attributed to the decline of politics in world society. A fragmented global law operates to a lesser degree in concert with national politics in order to guarantee the modern imperative towards full inclusion.

Keywords: systems theory ,   global constitutionalism ,   functional constitutionalization ,   global exclusion  

How to Cite: Holmes, P., 2011. The rhetoric of ‘legal fragmentation’ and its discontents
Evolutionary dilemmas in the constitutional semantics of global law. Utrecht Law Review, 7(2), pp.113–140. DOI: http://doi.org/10.18352/ulr.165