In this seminar, Nick Barber examines the idea of constitutional ideology and the role it plays in structuring constitutional discourse. He suggests that constitutional ideologies influence not only what can be argued within constitutional institutions, but also what can be argued only at reputational cost. Approaching constitutions as ideological frameworks allows us to see how individual rules form part of a broader worldview – one that participants in constitutional practice are, often implicitly, expected to accept.

The talk explores how this worldview, though rooted in legal rules, reaches beyond them. It shapes patterns of reasoning within institutions and informs how members of a political community understand authority, citizenship, attachment, and, ultimately, their own political identity. Special attention will be given to the relationship between rules and concepts, and to the different kinds of assumptions and claims that together make up a state’s constitutional ideology.

Guest speaker: Nick Barber is Professor of Constitutional Law and Theory in the Faculty of Law at University of Oxford. He specialises in public law, with a particular focus on constitutional law. He serves as Co-Director of the Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government and is also Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty.

 

----------------------------------------------

MCC students can earn credit for actively participating in the event, provided they read the required chapters and paper(s) and prepare three questions for the Q&A session of the research seminar.

Questions related to the required reading must be submitted to Kálmán Pócza at pocza.kalman@mcc.hu by 11:00 PM on 22 September 2026.

Required Reading: Please contact Kálmán Pócza to obtain the electronic version of the paper.

Submission Deadline: 22 September 2026, 11:00 PM

 

Previous Research Seminars: