8 - The Material Constitution in Greek Constitutional Thought

Summary

This chapter deals with material approaches of the constitution in Greek constitutional thought. First, it shows that, in the interwar period, a sociological approach of the constitution was developed, which focused on socio-economic forces and on their impact on the 1927 republican constitution. Second, it demonstrates that, in the post-civil war period, a normative understanding of the material constitution was developed but it was also opposed from a formalist perspective. This perspective will be understood through the historical context of this period, which was deeply marked by the existence of a ‘para-constitution’ that undermined civil and political rights. Third, it explores the metapolitefsi period, in which the relation between the formal constitution and the social and political forces was explored by Greek constitutional scholars as an object of juristic knowledge. In this period, Costantino Mortati’s concept of the material constitution was introduced in Greek constitutional thought and was criticised. The direction of this critique was marked by the influence of Nicos Poulantzas’s theory on Greek constitutional theorists.