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...
Tag: <span>Silvia Suteu</span>
UNCONSTITUTIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
This panel will consider a range of under-explored questions relating to the doctrine of unconstitutional constitutional amendments. Are their alternatives to invalidating a validly passed constitutional amendment? Can constitutional design and democratic sequencing deal with the problem of anti-democratic, but popularly supported, forms of constitutional change? How do we resolve the tension between ‘eternity‘ clauses...
Squaring the Circle? Bringing Deliberation and Participation Together in Processes of Constitution-Making
This chapter looks at recent participatory exercises in constitutional reform and aims to help further define and tailor standards for deliberative democratic good practice in constitution-making. Among the models of popular participation which the authors discuss are constitutional referendums such as Scotland‘s independence referendum; citizens‘ assemblies such as those set up in British Columbia, the...
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...