Stambulski Michał, Nostalgic Constitutional Identity

The text deals with the link between the notions of constitutional identity and nostalgic collective memory. Starting from the notion of nostalgia in a postmodern society present in a recent work of Zygmunt Bauman, I show that the point of reference for contemporary political projects is no longer the future but the past. Longing for a lost homeland becomes a dominant social emotion. This change has consequences for the law. According to Adam Czarnota, legal discourse can be seen as institutionalized experiences and collective memories. This is especially true of constitutions which, as „autobiographies of power”, contain visions of the past. Modern constitutions, especially in post-communist countries, perceive the past as unjustifiably taken away by external intervention (communism). The preferred value is to turn to this past and to regain lost sovereignty. Such a narrative is in conflict with the identity of the European Union, which is based not on returning to the past, but on...