—David Landau, Florida State University College of Law Bruce Ackerman recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling for Egypt to drop the institution of the presidency from its new constitutional order, and instead to use a parliamentary system with a constructive vote of no confidence. Ackerman argues essentially that the figure of
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
The Constitutional Future of Venezuela
—David Landau, FSU College of Law Hugo Chavez’s death poses important questions about the constitutional future of a country that many political analysts have seen as a hybrid or competitive authoritarian regime – that is, somewhere between pure democracy and dictatorship. These regimes have elections, and real elections, but the playing field is highly uneven
Is Egypt’s Transition to Democracy Really So Stupid?
—William Partlett, Columbia University Law School & Brookings Institution [Editors’ Note: In this forum on Egypt and New Perspectives on Constitution-Making, three young scholars of comparative constitutional law – Ozan Varol, Will Partlett, and David Landau – discuss their recent work on constitution-making and democratic transitions, focusing on Egypt. The work offers counter-intuitive predictions about
Egypt and the Forgotten Lessons of Democratic Transitions (Or: Democracy is Hard)
—David Landau, Florida State University College of Law [Editors’ Note: In this forum on Egypt and New Perspectives on Constitution-Making, three young scholars of comparative constitutional law – Ozan Varol, Will Partlett, and David Landau – discuss their recent work on constitution-making and democratic transitions, focusing on Egypt. The work offers counter-intuitive predictions about the
