ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the paradoxes inherent in constitutionalism. It argues that there is an uncomfortable paradox at the heart of the trend towards constitutionalism in international organizations. If constitutionalism pur sang then is bound to shoot itself in the foot, perhaps the best alternative would be to opt for a more limited approach to global governance which, for the sake of convenience, might simply be referred to as a constitutional approach. It is precisely by being less ambitious than constitutionalism that such a constitutional approach might just be able to escape the paradoxes of constitutionalism. But perhaps the main attraction of constitutionalism resides in the unmistakable trend towards fragmentation. The paradox then is that, in order to escape the trappings of constitutionalism, the only resort there is, is to resort to precisely the type of behaviour that constitutionalism was deemed to prevent.
