—Emílio Peluso Neder Meyer, Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, University of Brasília Brazil’s next elections will be held on Sunday, October 2. More than any other political event since the country’s transition to democracy in 1985, these elections are an inflection point for Brazil’s near and long future. Depending on what
The Speck in the Prime Minister’s Eyes: Secrecy and Responsible Government in Australia
—Renato Saeger Magalhaes Costa, The University of Queensland Secrecy is widely believed to be the antithesis of democratic values. As a general rule, the electorate should always know what the government is doing, how decisions are made, and why a such-and-such course of action has been taken. Many institutions exist to disclose relevant information to
I-CONnect Symposium on the Chilean Constitutional Referendum –The Illusion of Indigenous Representation
—Guillermo Pérez, Researcher at Instituto de Estudios de la Sociedad; Graduate Student of the Ph.D. in Government of the University of Texas at Austin. On September 4th, 2022, Chileans overwhelmingly rejected the text drafted by the Constitutional Convention, even after achieving levels of citizen participation that were widely considered unprecedented. The “reject” (“rechazo”) option alone
Will the Netherlands Finally Embrace Constitutional Adjudication?
—Maartje De Visser, Singapore Management University, Yong Pung How School of Law [Editor’s Note: This is one of our biweekly ICONnect columns. For more information on our 2022 columnists, see here.] On 1 July 2022, the Dutch government, acting through its ministers for the Interior and Legal Protection, sent a letter to parliament announcing its
What’s New in Public Law
—Anubhav Kumar, Advocate & Researcher, Supreme Court of India In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in public law. “Developments” may include a selection of links to news, high court decisions, new or recent scholarly books and articles, and blog posts from around the public law blogosphere. To submit relevant
I-CONnect Symposium on the Chilean Constitutional Referendum – Participation, representation and deliberation in constitution-making: tentative ideas from the Chilean case
—Esteban Szmulewicz Ramírez, Leiden University and Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile[1] On September 4, 2022, Chile held a referendum on a new Constitution, drafted by a directly elected Constitutional Convention. The proposed text introduced interesting innovations, like gender parity in representative institutions, a high degree of decentralization through a so-called “regional State”, clear concern for climate
I-CONnect Symposium on the Chilean Constitutional Referendum – The Paradox of Constitution-Making in Democratic Settings. A Tradeoff between Party Renewal and Political Representation?
—Sergio Verdugo, IE University Law School Introduction In 1995, Jon Elster concluded his landmark article by identifying the paradoxes of constitution-making.[1] Constitution-making processes are unlikely to occur without the urgent need that a political crisis triggers. Even though political crises are arguably necessary for constitutional replacement processes, those crises can also create unfavorable conditions for
Introduction: Symposium on the Chilean Constitutional Referendum
—David Landau, Florida State University College of Law[1] On September 4, 2022, after a two month campaign, voters headed to the polls and rejected the draft Chilean constitution by an overwhelming margin – 62 to 38 percent. With mandatory voting in effect for the first time in recent years, turnout was extremely high. About 13
What’s New in Public Law
—Irina Criveț, PhD Candidate in Public Law, Koç University In this weekly feature, I-CONnect publishes a curated reading list of developments in public law. “Developments” may include a selection of links to news, high court decisions, new or recent scholarly books and articles, and blog posts from around the public law blogosphere. To submit relevant
The Curious Case of the Taliban’s Judicial Empowerment
—Shamshad Pasarlay, Visiting Lecturer, The University of Chicago School of Law [Editor’s Note: This is one of our biweekly ICONnect columns. For more information on our 2022 columnists, see here.] Constitutional theorists have long debated a puzzling question: why do political officeholders choose to impose limits on their power and authorize apex courts to enforce
