Previously published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy, this volume presents a theory of constitutionalization as well as comparative analyses and case studies to underscore the claim that the European integration process itself engenders a democratic self-healing mechanism.

1. Explaining the Constitutionalization of the European Union 2. The Constitutionalization of the European Union: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis 3. Constitutionalization through Enlargement: The Contested Origins of the EU's Democratic Identity 4. No Integration without Representation. Parliamentary Democracy, European Integration, and the Forgotten Communities 5. Guarding the Guards. The European Convention and the Communitization of Police Cooperation 6. Competition and Community. Constitutional Courts, Rhetorical Action, and the Institutionalization of Human Rights in the European Union 7. Reasons for Constitutionalization: Non-Discrimination, Minority Rights and Social Rights in the Convention on the Charter of Fundamental Rights 8. Towards the Constitutionalization of Aliens' Rights in the European Union? 9. Comment: The Constitutionalization of the European Union from a Constructivist Perspective 10. Comment: The Constitutionalization of the European Union from a Rationalist Perspective