The book will be important reading for theorists in sociology, political science and legal studies.

1. Introduction: societal constitutionalism as critical theory; Part I. Conceptual Foundations of Societal Constitutionalism: 2. Social integration and social control: the importance of procedural normative restraints; 3. Liberalism and the Weberian dilemma: from restraints on government to restraints on civil society; 4. Conceptual foundations of societal constitutionalism: from internal restraints on government to external restraints on drift; Part II. Origins of the Analytical Distinctions and Conceptual Foundations: Retracing Steps Taken By Habermas, Fuller, and Parsons: 5. Societal constitutionalism's grounding against relativism: from Weber's legal positivism to Habermas' communication theory; 6. Societal constitutionalism's threshold in practice: from Fuller's legal theory to societal constitutionalism; 7. Societal constitutionalism's organizational manifestation, I: voluntaristic action as a distinct concept; 8. Societal constitutionalism's organizational manifestation, II: from voluntaristic action to collegial formations; Part III. Implications of the Analytical Distinctions and Conceptual Foundations: 9. Procedural institutionalization beyond the Western democracies: three bases of voluntaristic restraint; 10. External restraints: prospects for reason and 'tradition'; 11. Collegial formations as external procedural restraints: prospects for a public realm; Notes; Bibliography; Name index; Subject index.