—Maxime St-Hilaire, Université de Sherbrooke In Quebec nationalist constitutional thinking, the holding of a referendum is sometimes explicitly connected with the (somewhat fashionably) internationally revived idea of “pouvoir constituant”. Beyond proposals for referendums on secession or on the ratification of the constitution of an independent Quebec, there are now calls for holding a referendum on
The Venezuelan Presidential Crisis: A Response
—Rafael Macía Briedis, Center for Constitutional Democracy, Indiana University Maurer School of Law In a recent I-CONnect blog post, Rolando Seijas-Bolinaga makes the case for the recognition of Juan Guaidó as the sole legitimate President of Venezuela. Although I certainly agree with his conclusions as to the urgency of replacing Nicolás Maduro at the head
The Trouble with Constituent Power in Latin America: A Reply to Joshua Braver
—David Landau, Florida State University College of Law I would like to thank Joshua Braver for his post yesterday here at I-CONnect engaging my 2012 piece on constitution-making, and am gratified that the work is still relevant and useful for ongoing debates in Latin America and globally. Braver’s own project – to reconceptualize constituent power
Putting “Abusive Constitutionalism” and Populism in Perspective
–Joshua Braver, Tufts University The fear of “abusive constitutionalism” has set the agenda for scholarship on popular constitution-making. It warns of the danger that “constitutional amendment and replacement can be used by would-be autocrats to undermine democracy with relative ease.”[1] The term’s author, David Landau, and fellow traveler William Partlett, are particularly wary of the
The Oldest-Newest Separation of Powers
—Yaniv Roznai, Senior Lecturer, Radzyner Law School, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. Separation of powers is a basic idea within constitutional theory. The principle of separation of powers, as famously described by Montesquieu in his The Spirit of the Laws, centered around three governmental branches: legislative power, executive power and judging power; a separation that was needed
The Chilean Presidential Election and the Constituent Process
–Alberto Coddou Mc Manus, Observatory of the Chilean Constituent Process Next Sunday, November 19, Chile will celebrate one of the most important presidential elections since the return to democracy in 1990s. According to different opinion polls, Sebastian Piñera, a right-wing millionaire, will most likely receive the highest number of votes in the first round, and
Constitutional Amendments in an Age of Populism (I-CONnect Column)
—Aslı Bâli, UCLA School of Law [Editor’s note: This is one of our biweekly I-CONnect columns. Columns, while scholarly in accordance with the tone of the blog and about the same length as a normal blog post, are a bit more “op-ed” in nature than standard posts. For more information about our four columnists for
I•CON Debate Review by Nicolás Figueroa: Constituent Power and Constitutional Revolution
[Editor’s Note: In this special installment of I•CONnect’s Review Series, Nicolás Figueroa offers a critical review of the I•CON debate between Mark Tushnet and Jan Komárek on constituent power and constitutional revolution. The debate appears in the current issue of I•CON, beginning with Tushnet’s paper here, followed by a reply by Komárek here, and concluding with a rejoinder from Tushnet here.] Review by
Closing Remarks at Symposium on “Comparative Constitutional Change: New Perspectives on Formal and Informal Amendment”
[Editor’s note: In 2014, I organized the inaugural AALS Academic Symposium. The subject of the Symposium was “Comparative Constitutional Change: New Perspectives on Formal and Informal Amendment,” and the program was held in New York City at the AALS Annual Meeting. Half of the papers have been published in the latest issue of ICON; the other
Video Interview: Unamendability and Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments Featuring Yaniv Roznai
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School In this latest installment of our new video interview series at I-CONnect, I interview Yaniv Roznai on unamendability and unconstitutional constitutional amendments. In the interview, we explore discuss the paradox of the concept of an unconstitutional constitutional amendment, the origins and modern legal implications of the concept, whether one can
