Global legislation and its discontents

Abstract

‘Legislation’ is flourishing in the global sphere from a large number of sources, in the lack of a unified system. Current redefinitions of legality/validity, or attempts at a global constitution deserve some scrutiny and should cope with a global sphere legislation bearing unprecedented features: issued from deracinated sources, bearing new scope and functions, developing ‘managerial’/regulatory modes, cancelling the distinction vis-à-vis 'administration', electing functional rationalities with 'limited responsibility', loosing connection to the comprehensive well being of social communities. Despite the search for devices of accountability ‘global’ legislation remains a source of discontents. The promises of legal form are at stake in keeping alive the distinction between global decision making and universalizability. The future of global legislation (and its legitimacy) shall depend not only on shared criteria of legality, but also on how it shall interfere against the autonomy of less-than-global orders: that is, on the justice-related, legal quality of the relationships between the plurality of orders.