JUS | Discussion Group on Comparative Constitutional Law and Theory

Professor Dr. Martin Belov; University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ (Bulgaria)

Lecture: Dark Constitutionalism

Date: 16.04.2026, 12:00 a.m.
Venue: Room L619, 6^th floor | Faculty of Law | Sigmund Freud Privat University | Lassallestraße 3, 1020 Vienna

The lecture will define the concept and main features of dark constitutionalism. It will show that the use of the dark constitutionalism paradigm enables combined socio-legal, constitutional anthropological, and constitutional semiotic exploration of negative affective attitudes and negative emotions in constitution, constitutionalism, and constitutional law. The lecture will conceptualize dark constitutionalism as a socio-legal, semiotic, and semantic paradigm for exploring the role of negative emotions on constitutionalism as broader phenomenon having rational, emotional, and imaginary as well as textual, performative, and socio-legal dimensions. It will expose the core of dark constitutionalism and its role as key signifier is constitutional darkness. It will show that dark constitutionalism spreads from the constitutional past through the constitutional present to the constitutional future. Thus, dark constitutionalism and constitutional darkness will be presented in their ontological, axiological, teleological, and pragmatic interrelatedness.

Please register until 15.04.2026: konrad.lachmayer@jus.sfu.ac.at

Biography

Dr. Martin Belov is Professor in Constitutional and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’. He is Vice Dean of the University of Sofia ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Faculty of Law.

Martin Belov has been visiting scholar at Strathclyde University (Glasgow, UK) (2025) and Sutherland Fellow at the UCD (Dublin, Ireland) (2024). He has been visiting professor at EURAC (Bolzano, Italy) (2025 and 2024), University of Teramo (2025), University of Milano (Italy) (2024), University of Trento (Italy), (2024), University of Catania (Italy) (2024), University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy (2019-2023), Reichman University, Harry Radzyner Law School (Herzliya, Israel) (2021-2023), University of Zagreb, Croatia (2023), Jagiellonian University of Cracow, Poland, (2024 and 2022), ‘Aristoteles’ University of Thessaloniki, Greece, (2022), University Paris II Pantheon-Assas (2019), Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2019), University of Girona, Spain (2019), University ‘Pompeu Fabra’, Barcelona, Spain (2019), Europa-University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany (2017 and 2018), University of Bari, Italy (2018), European Law and Governance School, Athens (2017-2018 and 2020-2021), University of Södertorn, Stockholm, Sweden (2017), Scuolla Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy (2016), University of Warsaw, Poland (2015), University of Lisbon, Portugal (2012), State University of Milan, Italy (2011), University of Cologne, Germany (2007-2009) etc.

Martin Belov has been project researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2010-2012) and visiting researcher at the Institute for Federalism, Fribourg, Switzerland (2014). He has specialized at the University of Oxford (UK) (2017), Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany (2009) and many other academic institutions.

Martin Belov is co-chair and founding member of ICON-S Balkans. He is member of the European Group of Public Law, International Association of Legislation, the Advisory Board of the Central and Eastern European Forum of Young Legal, Political and Social Theorists, and other scientific and academic organizations.

Martin Belov is member of the scientific boards of many academic journals and book series. He has participated in numerous international research projects (including Horizon 2020 and Recovery Fund projects, the German Cluster of Excellence projects, COST, etc.). He has published 27 books (some of which edited volumes) and 120 scientific papers and book chapters.

Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna
Faculty of Law

Address Lassallestrasse 3, 6th floor, 1020 Vienna
Phone 0043 1 4700 104 12
E-mail jus@sfu.ac.at
Web: https://jus.sfu.ac.at

• https://www.lachmayer.eu/discussion-group-on-comparative-constitutional-law-and-theory/