Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participat... more Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participation is credited with a range of benefits—from improving individual behaviours and attitudes to democracy to shaping elite bargaining dynamics, improving constitutional content, and strengthening outcomes for democracy and peace. Yet it is not well understood whether and how public participation can achieve these ends. Much of what we think we know about participatory constitution-building remains theoretical. No two processes are alike, and there is no agreed definition of what constitutes a ‘participatory process’. Yet national decision-makers must contend with the key question: What does a robust participation process look like for a particular country, at a particular time, in a particular context? What considerations and principles can be derived from comparative experience to guide decisions? This Policy Paper unpacks the forms and functions of public participation across different ...
International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building provides a retrospective account of c... more International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, the issues that drive them, and their implications for national and international politics. This seventh edition covers events in 2019. Because this year marks the end of a decade, the first chapter summarizes a series of discussions International IDEA held with international experts and scholars throughout the year on the evolution of constitution-building over the past 10 years. The edition also includes chapters on challenges with sustaining constitutional pacts in Guinea and Zimbabwe; public participation in constitutional reform processes in The Gambia and Mongolia; constitutional change and subnational governance arrangements in Tobago and the Autonomous Region of Bangsamoro; the complexities of federal systems and negotiations on federal state structures in Myanmar and South Sudan; and the drawing (and redrawing) of the federal map in So...
On 6 August 2021 International IDEA, in partnership with the Law Faculty of UniversidadAdolfo Ibá... more On 6 August 2021 International IDEA, in partnership with the Law Faculty of UniversidadAdolfo Ibáñez, Corporación Humanas and ComunidadMujer, held a virtual seminar on gender and rules of procedure in constituent processes. Its objective was to share comparative information about designing rules of procedure (regulations) for constituent processes from a gender-equality perspective with members of the newly constituted Chilean Constitutional Convention, Chilean civil society, academics and legal practitioners. The open-invitation online event brought together a panel of women constitution-makers from constituent processes in Bolivia, Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia. The experts discussed their respective experiences and the benefits and drawbacks of the rules of procedure that guided their constituent processes. Representatives from the implementing partners moderated expert panel sessions and question-and-answer discussions.
International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2020 provides a retrospect... more International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2020 provides a retrospective account of constitutional reform processes around the world and from a comparative perspective, and their implications for national and international politics. This eighth edition covers events in 2020 and includes chapters on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and emergency legal frameworks on constitutionalism and constitution-building worldwide; the impact of the pandemic on attempted executive aggrandizement in Central African Republic, Hungary and Sri Lanka; the impact of the pandemic on peace- and constitution-building processes in Libya, Syria and Yemen; gender equality in constitution-building and peace processes, with a particular focus on Chile and Zimbabwe; constitutional amendments to enhance the recognition of customary law in Samoa and Tonga; and the establishment, functioning and outputs of the French Citizens’ Convention for Climate. Writing at the mid-way point betw...
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have implemented a variety of extraordinary leg... more In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have implemented a variety of extraordinary legal and policy measures to protect lives, mitigate the spread of the virus, and prevent health systems from breaking down. These measures have often included curbing some human rights, restricting travel, shuttering up classrooms, suspending government services, ordering the temporary closure of businesses, controlling or curtailing news reporting, and sometimes delaying elections. To do this, many governments have activated emergency legal frameworks that provide for the assumption of emergency powers by the executive and, in some cases the weakening or setting aside of ordinary democratic checks and balances. It is helpful to understand the different types of laws relied upon (or not) by governments to justify their assumption of emergency powers and their imposition of emergency measures. This paper examines and compares different types of legal bases for emergency powers, built-in saf...
La participación pública se ha convertido en un elemento central de los procesos contemporáneos d... more La participación pública se ha convertido en un elemento central de los procesos contemporáneos de elaboración constitucional. A una participación sólida se le atribuyen una serie de beneficios, desde mejorar los comportamientos y las actitudes individuales respecto de la democracia, hasta modelar las dinámicas de negociación entre la élite, mejorar los contenidos constitucionales y fortalecer los resultados en favor de la democracia y la paz. Sin embargo, aún no se ha logrado establecer con claridad si la participación pública puede contribuir al logro de esos fines, ni cómo puede hacerlo. Gran parte de lo que se cree saber sobre la elaboración constitucional participativa permanece en el plano puramente teórico. No existen dos procesos iguales, ni hay acuerdo a la hora de definir qué es lo que constituye un “proceso participativo”. No obstante, las personas responsables de la toma de decisiones a nivel nacional deben afrontar una pregunta clave: ¿qué es lo que constituye a un proc...
Modern constitutions typically contain a variety of provisions on language. They may designate on... more Modern constitutions typically contain a variety of provisions on language. They may designate one or more official languages, each with a different kind of legal status. Constitutions may also create language rights, usually held by minority-language speakers, granting groups and individuals the right to communicate with, and receive services from, the government in their native tongue. In systems of multi-level governance, constitutions may vest the authority to designate official language(s) for each order of government. This Primer addresses the role of language in constitutional design, and the key considerations, implications and potential challenges that arise in multilingual states. It discusses the range of claims around language as a constitutional issue, and the potential consequences of successfully addressing these claims—or failing to do so.
Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participat... more Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participation is credited with a range of benefits—from improving individual behaviours and attitudes to democracy to shaping elite bargaining dynamics, improving constitutional content, and strengthening outcomes for democracy and peace. Yet it is not well understood whether and how public participation can achieve these ends. Much of what we think we know about participatory constitution-building remains theoretical. No two processes are alike, and there is no agreed definition of what constitutes a ‘participatory process’. Yet national decision-makers must contend with the key question: What does a robust participation process look like for a particular country, at a particular time, in a particular context? What considerations and principles can be derived from comparative experience to guide decisions? This Policy Paper unpacks the forms and functions of public participation across different ...
International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building provides a retrospective account of c... more International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, the issues that drive them, and their implications for national and international politics. This seventh edition covers events in 2019. Because this year marks the end of a decade, the first chapter summarizes a series of discussions International IDEA held with international experts and scholars throughout the year on the evolution of constitution-building over the past 10 years. The edition also includes chapters on challenges with sustaining constitutional pacts in Guinea and Zimbabwe; public participation in constitutional reform processes in The Gambia and Mongolia; constitutional change and subnational governance arrangements in Tobago and the Autonomous Region of Bangsamoro; the complexities of federal systems and negotiations on federal state structures in Myanmar and South Sudan; and the drawing (and redrawing) of the federal map in So...
On 6 August 2021 International IDEA, in partnership with the Law Faculty of UniversidadAdolfo Ibá... more On 6 August 2021 International IDEA, in partnership with the Law Faculty of UniversidadAdolfo Ibáñez, Corporación Humanas and ComunidadMujer, held a virtual seminar on gender and rules of procedure in constituent processes. Its objective was to share comparative information about designing rules of procedure (regulations) for constituent processes from a gender-equality perspective with members of the newly constituted Chilean Constitutional Convention, Chilean civil society, academics and legal practitioners. The open-invitation online event brought together a panel of women constitution-makers from constituent processes in Bolivia, Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia. The experts discussed their respective experiences and the benefits and drawbacks of the rules of procedure that guided their constituent processes. Representatives from the implementing partners moderated expert panel sessions and question-and-answer discussions.
International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2020 provides a retrospect... more International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2020 provides a retrospective account of constitutional reform processes around the world and from a comparative perspective, and their implications for national and international politics. This eighth edition covers events in 2020 and includes chapters on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and emergency legal frameworks on constitutionalism and constitution-building worldwide; the impact of the pandemic on attempted executive aggrandizement in Central African Republic, Hungary and Sri Lanka; the impact of the pandemic on peace- and constitution-building processes in Libya, Syria and Yemen; gender equality in constitution-building and peace processes, with a particular focus on Chile and Zimbabwe; constitutional amendments to enhance the recognition of customary law in Samoa and Tonga; and the establishment, functioning and outputs of the French Citizens’ Convention for Climate. Writing at the mid-way point betw...
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have implemented a variety of extraordinary leg... more In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have implemented a variety of extraordinary legal and policy measures to protect lives, mitigate the spread of the virus, and prevent health systems from breaking down. These measures have often included curbing some human rights, restricting travel, shuttering up classrooms, suspending government services, ordering the temporary closure of businesses, controlling or curtailing news reporting, and sometimes delaying elections. To do this, many governments have activated emergency legal frameworks that provide for the assumption of emergency powers by the executive and, in some cases the weakening or setting aside of ordinary democratic checks and balances. It is helpful to understand the different types of laws relied upon (or not) by governments to justify their assumption of emergency powers and their imposition of emergency measures. This paper examines and compares different types of legal bases for emergency powers, built-in saf...
La participación pública se ha convertido en un elemento central de los procesos contemporáneos d... more La participación pública se ha convertido en un elemento central de los procesos contemporáneos de elaboración constitucional. A una participación sólida se le atribuyen una serie de beneficios, desde mejorar los comportamientos y las actitudes individuales respecto de la democracia, hasta modelar las dinámicas de negociación entre la élite, mejorar los contenidos constitucionales y fortalecer los resultados en favor de la democracia y la paz. Sin embargo, aún no se ha logrado establecer con claridad si la participación pública puede contribuir al logro de esos fines, ni cómo puede hacerlo. Gran parte de lo que se cree saber sobre la elaboración constitucional participativa permanece en el plano puramente teórico. No existen dos procesos iguales, ni hay acuerdo a la hora de definir qué es lo que constituye un “proceso participativo”. No obstante, las personas responsables de la toma de decisiones a nivel nacional deben afrontar una pregunta clave: ¿qué es lo que constituye a un proc...
Modern constitutions typically contain a variety of provisions on language. They may designate on... more Modern constitutions typically contain a variety of provisions on language. They may designate one or more official languages, each with a different kind of legal status. Constitutions may also create language rights, usually held by minority-language speakers, granting groups and individuals the right to communicate with, and receive services from, the government in their native tongue. In systems of multi-level governance, constitutions may vest the authority to designate official language(s) for each order of government. This Primer addresses the role of language in constitutional design, and the key considerations, implications and potential challenges that arise in multilingual states. It discusses the range of claims around language as a constitutional issue, and the potential consequences of successfully addressing these claims—or failing to do so.
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