Functionalism, constitutionalism and the United Nations

This chapter aims to look at the UN from the vantage point of the tension between functionalism and constitutionalism and will make the point that neither is a particularly suitable framework for understanding the UN. In terms of global constitutionalism, the chapter argues that as the UN is not best seen as a functional agency, it must be something else, and that ‘something else’ is that the UN is best seen as the embodiment of global constitutionalism. Whether it contributes to global constitutionalism is a different matter, as is the question what the function of global constitutionalism is. Interesting as these are, the focus of this chapter has to rest elsewhere: on the question whether the UN can meaningfully be portrayed as the personification or embodiment of global constitutionalism, for at least among international lawyers this is not an uncommon position to take, however implicitly often. The remainder of this chapter agrees with the point of departure that there is little to gain from applying a functionalist prism to the UN and will further explore two possible manifestations of a constitutionalist perspectives