9 - The Constitution As Social Compromise

Summary

The contribution provides a reconstruction of Wolfgang Abendroth’s approach to the constitution as ‘social compromise’. It clarifies the historical background and asks for its potential with regard to current challenges of constitutionalisation. In the initial part, it is demonstrated how the concept of ‘balance of social forces’ was used in the context of the labour movement in Austria and Germany in order to approach constitutional issues. Then, it is argued that this approach can make sense of the subsequent evolution of constitutionalism and international law after the second-world war. It is argued, however, that its main weakness consists in the focus on the central role of industrial labour within social conflicts: The constitutional compromises were often affected or even shifted by unforeseen agents of change which exceeded the sphere of blue-collar workers. Finally, the contribution addresses how Abendroth’s approach can be used in order to refine current attempts to re-establish a ‘balance of social forces’ through either hybrid constitutionalisation (sociological constitutionalism) or counter-institutions (plebian constitutionalism).