The Legal Interpellation of Citizens – A Constitutional Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the legal creation of citizen subjects by applying the interpellation theory of Louis Althusser in constitutional citizenship regulations. In addition, this article uncovers the patterns constitutionally defined rights and duties as a consequence of intra-constitutional subject construction, especially in relation to a political, a civil and a social dimension. For this purpose, 41 constitutions are analysed quantitatively-descriptively based on an international comparative qualitative document analysis. The study shows that constitutions, as the most fundamental legal documents at the national level, define different formal-legal qualities of citizen subjects and thus determine very specific relations between the state and its citizens. The legal citizenship regulations in national constitutions thus contribute to the stabilization of social (b)order-drawing processes to the extent that they create and secure both barriers and opportunities for individual and collective participation in society, addressing these primarily through a political and less through a civil or social legal dimension.