—Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales, and Juliano Zaiden Benvindo, University of Brasília On August 12, 2016, the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, and the Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJel) hosted the symposium “Democracy, Pacifism & Constitutional Change in Japan: Amending
The Chilean Constituent Process: A Long and Winding Road
—Alberto Coddou Mc Manus, Diego Portales University & University College of London Nowadays, Chile is undergoing a unique constituent process. A longstanding aim of several social movements, the idea of a new constitution now dominates the agenda, and is one of the main commitments of the current government. The commitment to replace the Constitution of
A Way Out of Hyper-Reformism? A Project of Constitutional Reorganization and Consolidation in Mexico
—Andrea Pozas-Loyo, IIJ-UNAM Mexico has one of the world’s oldest and most amended constitutions: its 99-year old constitution has been amended 642 times. De jure, Mexico’s constitution is pretty rigid: amendments require three-quarters of the present members of congress and approval of the majority of the states’ legislatures. During the hegemonic-party period, the PRI had
Conference Report–Symposium on “State Constitutional Change,” University of Arkansas School of Law
—Jonathan Marshfield, University of Arkansas School of Law On January 22, 2016, the Arkansas Law Review hosted a symposium on State Constitutional Change: Traditions, Trends, and Theory at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I convened the symposium along with Richard Albert (Boston College). The aim of the symposium was to
The Constitution-Making Process in Chile: A Cautionary Tale from Turkey
—Claudia Heiss, Universidad de Chile & Oya Yegen, Boston University On April 21, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile delivered the second public address to Congress of her term. During that address, she reaffirmed that she would pursue constitutional changes to the 1980 Constitution written under military dictatorship, although she left open key questions about procedure.
Call for Papers–Workshop on Comparative Constitutional Amendment
—Richard Albert, Boston College Law School Boston College Law School and the International Association of Constitutional Law’s Research Group on Constitution-Making and Constitutional Change invite submissions for a full-day workshop on comparative constitutional amendment, to be held on the campus of Boston College Law School on Friday, May 15, 2015. This workshop is convened by
Might Afghans Amend The 2004 Constitution? Hints from a Televised Presidential Debate
—Clark B. Lombardi & Shamshad Pasarlay, University of Washington School of Law 2014 marks the tenth anniversary of the current Afghan Constitution, as a post last month on FP.com (cross-posted on this blog) noted. In that post, two American experts in comparative constitutional law, Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Huq, critiqued the performance of the government
Of Generals, Judges, and Constitutional Democracies
—Menaka Guruswamy, International Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Columbia University (Fall 2013) Cross-posted from the Blog of the UK Constitutional Law Group On July 3, General Fattah al-Sisi, the 58 year old Chief of the Egyptian Army announced on television that the army had removed President Mohammad Morsi from power and suspended the constitution. In
How the financial crisis has affected constitutions
–Dr. Alkmene Fotiadou, Centre for European Constitutional Law (Athens, Greece) In the comparative chapter of the book Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis by Xenophon Contiades (ed.), we attempted to trace how the financial crisis impacted formal and informal constitutional change based on data and analysis provided in the book by constitutional scholars from Greece,
Bachelet Appoints Group to Study New Constitution for Chile
—Claudia Heiss, Instituto de Asuntos Publicos, Universidad de Chile On April 23rd former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), the front-runner candidate for the November presidential election, announced a commission to study a new constitution. The group is composed of nine lawyers (including two women) some of whom contributed to the 2005 reform signed by
