Dr Chris McCorkindale

Lecturer in Law

T: +44 (0)141 331 3528

Chris joined the law department at GCU in 2009, arriving from the University of Glasgow where he completed his PhD, Reclaiming the Public: Hannah Arendt and the Political Constitution. His research interests lie in the fields of constitutional and administrative law, history and theory. He has contributed to and co-edited two books, The Public In Law (Ashgate, forthcoming 2012) and Hannah Arendt and the Law (Hart, forthcoming 2012). Before beginning his PhD, Chris undertook an LLB at the University of Glasgow, before obtaining an M Litt in International Security Studies at the University of St Andrews. Outside of academia, he has held research extern and intern positions at Redress (London) and the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (St Andrews) respectively.

Chris is extremely keen to hear from potential doctoral students with shared research interests, and has been involved in convening a PhD network within the doctoral community of the Institute for Society and Social Justice Research.

Current projects

‘Political Constitutions’ (w/ Marco Goldoni)

It is fair to say that political constitutionalism has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the past decade or so, particularly in common law jurisdictions either side of the Atlantic. However, and perhaps unsurprisingly given its common law origins, that renaissance has often been framed in defensive terms, as a reaction against a particular threat: the threat, as it has been perceived, of a ubiquitous or at least ever creeping legal constitutionalism, characterised by the juridification of the political process and the dominance of (in Hirschl’s words) a juristocracy. So, we might think of Tushnet taking the constitution away from the courts; of Waldron’s case against judicial review; or of Bellamy’s defence of democracy against the very same. The starting point of this project is the belief that whilst constitutional debate has undoubtedly been enriched by these (and other like-minded) contributions, the binary presentation of political versus legal constitution has unduly constrained the normative potential, and narrowed the practical scope of political constitutionalism.

The aim of this project is therefore to isolate political constitutionalism from a direct confrontation with legal constitutionalism, and to invite (who we perceive to be) political constitutionalists to engage with one another in an internal critique of the field. In other words, rather than defend political constitutionalism, we hope that this project will create a space within which it can be defined, critiqued, augmented and even celebrated on its own terms.

We would like to thank Professor Jackie Tombs (Institute for Society and Social Justice Research, Glasgow Caledonian University), Professor George Pavlakos (Centre for Law and Cosmopolitan Values, Antwerp University) and Tony Lang jnr (Centre for Global Constitutionalism, St Andrews University) for the financial (and other) support to this project.

Recent Publications

C McCorkindale and M Goldoni, ‘The role of the US Supreme Court in Hannah Arendt’s constitutional thought’, in C McCorkindale and M Goldoni (eds), Hannah Arendt and the Law, Hart, 2012;

C McCorkindale and M Goldoni (eds), Hannah Arendt and the Law, Hart 2012; http://www.hartpublishingusa.com/books/details.asp?isbn=9781849461436;

C McCorkindale ‘Recovering ‘the public’: The curious case of Benjamin Constant’, in C McCorkindale, G Clunie, C Psarras and C Michelon (eds) The Public In Law (Ashgate, 2012);

C McCorkindale, G Clunie, C Psarras and C Michelon (eds) The Public In Law (Ashgate, 2012); http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409419099

‘Book Review: CÉCILE LABORDE AND JOHN MAYNOR (EDS), Republicanism and Political Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008’ (2009) 18 Social & Legal Studies 267-269;

‘Book Review: RICHARD BELLAMY, Political Constitutionalism: A Republican Defence of the Constitutionality of Democracy. Cambridge: CUP, 2007’ (2009) 13 Redesrciptions 241-249.

Teaching responsibilities

Scots’ Private Law (Trusts, Succession and Family Law)
Public Law
Administrative Justice
Legal Systems and Study
MSc in Citizenship and Human Rights

Other Relevant Information

Chris currently sits on the Steering Group of the Scottish Public Law Group (http://splg.co.uk/). He also acts as the Secretary of Greenock Morton Supporters' Trust.