{"id":398,"date":"2009-04-16T11:27:28","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T15:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/its-cuthemedev1.carleton.ca\/law\/ccms\/?page_id=398"},"modified":"2026-01-05T08:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:58:16","slug":"oklopcic-zoran","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/people\/oklopcic-zoran\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoran Oklopcic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \n \n \n <\/h1>\n\n \n <\/header>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Until recently, my research focused on the vocabulary of peoplehood in the context of state-formation at the intersection of three disciplines: constitutional theory, normative political theory, and international law. As part of that project, I published on the metamorphosis of self-determination in the post-Cold War context; the concept of territorial rights in the context of theories of secession; and, the inadequacy of the concept of pouvoir constituant<\/em> as means to justify the creation of new constitutional orders in the (semi-)periphery. The culmination of that project has been the monograph Beyond the People: Social Imaginary and Constituent Imaginatio<\/em>n published in the Oxford Constitutional Theory series in February 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a member of the inaugural Editorial Board of the Review of Constitutionalism and Constitutional Change. <\/em>In the past, I was MacCormick Visiting Fellow at the University of Edinburgh School of Law (2013), Junior Faculty at Harvard Law School\u2019s Institute for Global Law and Policy (2013 \u2013 2015), Visiting Researcher at the Department of Political Sciences University of Pompeu Fabra (2014), Hauser Global Research Fellow at the NYU School of Law (2014), and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria Department of Political Science (2015). At Carleton, I continue to teach critically-oriented introductory and advanced courses on modern constitutionalism and public international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am currently working on two longer-term projects. The first is a monograph (co-authored with Karlo Basta) on the theoretical and practical challenges that the constitutional stalemate in Spain and Catalonia poses to comparative politics, normative theory, and comparative constitutionalism. The second, also a monograph, focuses on the hierarchy<\/em> and the system<\/em>\u2014two vital, but curiously elements in Western social imaginary. Intended to offer a more in-depth exploration of some of the themes from Beyond the People<\/em>, this project aims to confront the prevailing understandings of these concepts in legal theory and constitutional sociology with the perspectives of social anthropology, cultural pragmatics and complexity theory. As befotre, I continue to be interested in the questions of territorial rights, constitutional pluralism, and Global South constitutionalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow me on academia.edu: https:\/\/carleton-ca.academia.edu\/ZoranOklopcic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and on twitter: https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZoranOk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Books<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. <\/strong>Oklopcic, Beyond the People: Social Imaginary and Constituent Imagination<\/em> (Oxford University Press 2018)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Beyond<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Advance praise for Beyond the People<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c… an erudite and fascinating journey through the powerful, complex, and often contradictory social imaginaries … of interest to anyone working with the concepts of democracy, the people, self-determination, constituent power, and the state.\u201d – James Tully (Emeritus Professor, University of Victoria)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 provocative, original, and written in the spirit of drama … a forceful polemic against conventional theorizing about constituent power \u2026 succeeds in constructing a radically different stage for a ‘People’ we have not yet known.\u201d – G\u00fcnter Frankenberg, (Professor of Law, Goethe-Universit\u00e4t Frankfurt am Main)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 an ambitious, brilliant, and difficult book [which] shows us what the exercise of imagination looks like. Full of metaphors, figures, and images, [it] invites us not to fix again the meaning of notions such as nation, people, or self-determination, but instead to view what happens in such fixing …” – Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Articles in peer-reviewed journals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe South of Western Constitutionalism: A Map Ahead of a Journey\u201d (2016) 37: 11 Third World Quarterly 2080.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe Idea of Early-Conflict Constitution Making: The crisis in Ukraine Beyond Territorial Rights and the Paradox of Constitutionalism\u201d (2015) German Law Journal 658.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe anxieties of consent: Theorizing secession between constitutionalism and self-determination\u201d (2015) 22:2 International Journal of Group and Minority Rights 259.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201c\u0160to je \u010dije: Ili, teritorijalna prava na \u2018ovim prostorima\u2019\u201d [\u201cWhose is what? Or, territorial rights \u2018in these lands\u2019\u201d] (2015) 52:1 Politi\u010dka misao: Croatian Journal of political science 111.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cProvincialising Constitutional Pluralism\u201d (2014) 5:3 Transnational Legal Theory 331<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThree Arenas of Struggle: A Contextual Approach to the Constituent Power of \u2018the People’\u201d (2014) 3:2 Global Constitutionalism 200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cBeyond Empty, Conservative and Ethereal: Pluralist Self-Determination and the Peripheral Political Imaginary\u201d, (2013) 26:3 Leiden Journal of International Law 509.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cConstitutional (Re)Vision: Sovereign Peoples, New Constituent Powers, and the Formation of Constitutional Orders in the Balkans\u201d, (2012) 19:1 Constellations 81-101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cIndependence Referendums in Democratic Theory in Quebec and Montenegro\u201d, (2012) 18:1 Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe Territorial Challenge: From Constitutional Patriotism to Unencumbered Agonism in Bosnia and Herzegovina\u201d, (2012) 13:1 German Law Journal 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe Migrating Spirit of the Secession Reference in Southeastern Europe\u201d, (2011) 24:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, 347-376.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapters in peer-reviewed book volumes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201c(Not) fast and (not) furious? (Un)constitutional responsiveness and the boundaries of constituent imagination\u201d in Paul Blokker (ed), Constitutional Acceleration within the European Union and Beyond <\/em>(Routledge 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cConstitutional Theory and Cognitive Estrangement: Beyond Revolutions, Amendments and Constitutional Moments\u201d in Richard Albert, Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou (eds), The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional Amendment (Hart 2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cRedeeming the triple struggle? The Yugoslav accounts of Non-Alignment\u201c in Vasuki Nesiah, Michael Fakhri, and Luis Eslava, (eds), Bandung at Sixty: Critical Pasts and Pending Futures (Cambridge University Press 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cWhich pluralism? External self-determination at the intersection of national, social and geopolitical emancipation\u201d in Stephen Tierney (ed.) Nationalism and Globalisation (Hart Publishing, 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cA Farewell to Rhetorical Arms?: Unravelling the Self-Determination of Peoples\u201d in Andr\u00e9e Boisselle, Glen Coulthard, Avigail Eisenberg, and Jeremy Webber, (eds), Recognition and Self-Determination (University of British Columbia Press 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cConstitutional Politics of Secession: Travelling from Quebec to Montenegro (and Back?)\u201d in A. Pavkovic and P. Radan, (eds), Ashgate Research Companion on Secession (Ashgate 2011).
\nZ. Oklopcic, \u201cConstituent Power and Polity Legitimacy in the European Context: A Theoretical Sketch\u201d in J. Drew, ed., Redefining Europe (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi 2005)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blog post, book reviews, and other scholarly publications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe Referendum on Catalan Self-Determination, Endemic Rhetoric, Interpretive Hypocrisy and Legal Imagination\u201d V\u00f6lkerrechtsblog, 22 September 2017, doi: 10.17176\/20170925-144056.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zoran Oklopcic, \u201cConstitutionalize This: Catalan Referendum as Political Surprise and Theoretical Disruption\u201d, International Journal of Constitutional Law Blog, October 6 2017 http:\/\/www.iconnectblog.com\/2017\/10\/constitutionalize-this-the-catalan-referendum-as-political-surprise-and-theoretical-disruption<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cDrafting Independence: Catalan Declaration of Sovereignty and the Question of Constituent Power in Context\u201d, International Journal of Constitutional Law Blog, February 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cReview of Joel Col\u00f3n-Ri\u00f3s\u2019 \u2018Weak Constitutionalism\u2019\u201d, Int\u2019l J. Const. L. Blog, October 15, 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cPreliminary Thoughts on the Kosovo Opinion\u201d, EJIL: Talk!, July 26 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cReflections on self-determination, and the status of Kosovo in light of the Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia\u201d, EJIL: Talk!, December 31 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cThe Paradox of Constitutionalism: Constituent Power and Constitutional Form\u201d, (book review) (2008) 6:2 International Journal of Constitutional Law, 358-370.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Z. Oklopcic, \u201cSelf-Determination of Peoples and Plural-Ethnic States in Contemporary International Law: Failed States, Nation-building and the Alternative, Federative Option\u201d by Edward McWhinney, (book review) (2007) 45 Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 617-623.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special issues (guest editor)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICONnect Online Symposium: The Independence Vote in Catalonia (October 2017)
\nhttp:\/\/www.iconnectblog.com\/2017\/10\/introduction-to-i-connect-symposium-independence-vote-in-catalonia\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special issue of (2015) 16:3 German Law Journal \u201cThe crisis in Ukraine between the law, power and principle\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special issue of (2015) 52:1 Politi\u010dka misao: Croatian Journal of political science \u201cSelf-determination and secession: the case of Yugoslavia\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14644,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Zoran","cu_people_last_name":"Oklopcic","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[22],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-398","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-faculty"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Associate Professor","cu_people_degree":"LL.B. (Zagreb), Exec. M.A. (Amsterdam), LL.M. (Central European), S.J.D. (Toronto)","cu_building":"","cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"zoran.oklopcic@carleton.ca","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33698,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/398\/revisions\/33698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}