Costituzionalismo dei diritti e comparazione giuridica nell'area balcanica: riflessioni sul metodo

The paper analyses the challenges that the development of European constitutionalism at a supranational level pose to the traditional comparative methodological approach to constitutional issues. The author tests these challenges in the context of recently adopted constitutional frameworks. More precisely, the essay addresses the constitutional protection of fundamental rights in countries, which were formerly part of the Yugoslav Federal Republic. After defining the research topic and the geographical area relevant to this study, the author points out a series of methodological options available to those who intend to approach the matters under discussion. Such methodological options all focus on the concept of form of State, both in a diachronic and synchronic perspective; indeed, this analysis shows the inadequacy of the traditionally Self-centred method of comparison, which implies that the circulation of models develops exclusively: horizontally and homogeneously (with regard to types, e.g. the States). In conclusion, the author argues in favour of reconsidering a number of presumptions typical of comparative studies, with the aim of re-orienting them toward the supranational dimension of contemporary constitutionalism.