Constitutionalism as a Moral Project: Between Legal Authority and Political Obligation

This essay argues that constitutionalism should be seen as a moral endeavour, mediating between the ethical demands of political duty and the normative assertions of legal power, rather than merely as a legal or institutional structure. The study examines how constitutions create, defend, and uphold duties of obedience among individuals and organizations by establishing constitutional legitimacy in moral philosophy. To demonstrate that constitutionalism inhabits a distinct normative space-it is both a framework of legal compulsion and an ethical community of shared commitments-it draws on the writings of John Rawls, Joseph Raz, Hannah Arendt, and Jeremy Waldron. According to the paper's conclusion, constitutionalism can only be successful if it can resolve the conflict between power and autonomy-between the rule of law and the citizen's conscience.