Somsubhra Banerjee (European Research Council Scholar)
Research Area
Constitutional Law
somsubhra.banerjee@ucdconnect.ie
Supervisor
Prof Eoin Carolan
Thesis title
Constitutional Imaginaries and Their Limitations; Re-evaluating the Relationship between Constitutional Identity and Constitutional Authority
Abstract
What started in the late 2010s as concern for the declining health of liberal democracies has now given way to discussions regarding democratic backsliding and autocratic legalism. In each of the above cases, constitutions have been (and continues to be) unable to protect against political movements unsympathetic to liberal constitutionalism and perhaps more worryingly, is being presently used to further autocratic aims. This raises two important questions. Where, then, does constitutional authority lie? Further, what is the role of the people in constitutional systems? This thesis seeks to answer both questions by using the concept of constitutional imaginaries and viewing constitutions as cultural as well as legal and political institutions. The thesis also discusses the limitations of constitutional imaginaries and implications that has on constitutions claiming normative authority.
Biography
Somsubhra is a PhD student at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin (UCD). As part of the European Research Council (ERC) funded Foundations of Institutional Authority project, his research focuses on theoretical conceptions of legitimate authority and reevaluating the same in the context of successful populist movements. Somsubhra completed his undergraduate degree [B.A. LL. B (Hons.)] in law from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. He worked for a year as a lawyer dealing primarily in general corporate and commercial practices. Somsubhra completed his master’s degree (MSc) from the United Nations University and Maastricht University in Public Policy and Human Development. He was employed as a political consultant with the Indian Political Action Committee where he worked on campaign design and project management.
Research funding/awards
European Research Council
Publications
C R Dutta on Company Law, (LexisNexis, December 2016) contributing author.
- Banerjee and E. Carolan, ‘Autocratic Legalism and Institutional Legitimacy in Hungary’ as part of PAL Project (Forthcoming Winter, 2024).
- Gillibrand, S. Banerjee and E. Carolan, ‘Cracks in the Foundations?: exploring the tension between constitutional tradition and constitutional culture in the UK on referendums and Scottish independence’, Public Law, 2023 (3), 587-608.
- Seifert and S. Banerjee, ‘Right-wing populism reaches Argentina’ The Loop. Available at https://theloop.ecpr.eu/argentina-turns-to-the-populist-far-right/.
- Gagliardi, E. Carolan, S. Banerjee D. Seifert and D. Gutierez-Rodriguez, ‘The Influence of Popular Conceptions of National and Constitutional Identity on the Position of Marginalized or Minority Groups Within a Nation State. A Legal, Empirical, and Comparative Analysis of Four Jurisdictions Through the Prism of Gender’, Latin American Legal Studies, 2024 (12), 158-224
Conferences
ICON-S 2024 Annual Conference, ‘The Foundations of Constitutional Resilience; the view from Argentina, Hungary and Poland’
International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences Congress, 2023 as Chair on ‘Dissent, Detention and Emergencies in the Age of the Internet’
TriCon Doctoral Conference, 2023 on ‘Emergency Legislation and Competing Claims to Authority’
New and Emerging Voices in Constitutional Law Symposium, 2023 on ‘Emergency Legislation and Constitutional Good’
SLSA, 2023 on ‘Referendums as Constitutional Norm: Indyref2 and the case for referendums in the UK constitutional architecture’ with Nicky Gillibrand
Public Law Conference, 2022 ‘Making Public of Public Institutions’
ICON-S 2022 Annual Conference, ‘Popular notions of legitimacy and trust vis-à-vis public institutions across Europe and Latin America’
UCD College of Social Sciences and Law Graduate and Postdoctoral Researchers Summer School, 2022 on ‘Popular Notions of Trust and Legitimacy vis-a-vis Public Institutions in Europe’ with Orlaith Rice
ICON-S Annual Conference, 2021 ‘Gender, Religion and Identity Conundrums and the Rise of Populism and nationalism in Central and eastern Europe and Latin America’, discussant.