This panel considers how constitutional symbolism as well as constitutional design can and have been used as tools in nationalist, majoritarian and colonial projects. The panel papers examine a number of vehicles for constitutional inclusion/exclusion: constitutional directives, invocations of the nation in postcolonial constitutions, institutions in settler states, and unamendable provisions reinforcing majoritarian values. The...
Comparative Settler-Colonial Constitutionalism
State formation in settler states has been intertwined with settler-colonialism. Settler-colonialism is not just a matter of the past, but it is a foundational aspect in the settler state. Inspired by TWAIL scholarship, and drawing on the work of theorists of settler-colonialism, this paper examines some aspects of constitutional law in a number of settler...
Invoking the Nation in Partitioned Lands: Postcolonial Constitutions and Exclusion in Ireland and the Indian Subcontinent
The paper explores the relationship between constitutional representations of the nation and institutional design following the partitions of Ireland and the Indian subcontinent. The constitution-making processes and outcomes in Ireland 1937, India 1950 and Pakistan 1956, together with the Northern Ireland Act 1998, reveal the constitutional centrality of claims to nationhood that extend beyond state...
Political Insurance for the Poor: Liberal Constitutionalism and Extreme Inequality
Constitutional directives—normative directives addressed to the state found in several constitutions—range from obliging the state to reduce material inequality, secure universal access to education, promote indigenous culture, protect the environment, and so on. On a conservative count, at least 31 constitutions around the world feature ‘directive principles‘ (identified as such). Counts based on the structural...
Unamendability and Exclusion: Eternity Clauses as a Tool for Majoritarian Constitutional Projects
The scholarship on unamendability generally understands eternity clauses as in essence tied to liberal constitutionalism. Such provisions are typically seen, and to a large extent defended, as tools to entrench commitments to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. Challenging this underlying assumption, this paper claims that even in otherwise liberal constitution-making contexts, eternity...