Blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law

Tag: Formal Amendment

  • The Rise of Comparative Constitutional Change — Book Review: Reijer Passchier and Alissa Verhagen on “The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional Amendment”

    [Editor’s Note: In this installment of I•CONnect’s Book Review Series, Reijer Passchier and Alissa Verhagen review The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional Amendment (Hart 2017), edited by Richard Albert, Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou] –Reijer Passchier[*] and Alissa Verhagen[**] I. The renaissance of an issue The matter of constitutional change is one of the most difficult and challenging issues…

  • Symposium on “Constitutional Amendment and Dismemberment”

    —Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin Earlier this week, the Yale Journal of International Law published my article on “Constitutional Amendment and Dismemberment.” The Journal also organized a symposium around the article featuring three responses by (1) Professor David Landau, Florida State University and I-CONnect founding co-editor, (2) Judge Carlos Bernal, Colombian Constitutional…

  • Why Entrench Formal Amendment Rules?

    –Richard Albert, Boston College Law School Constitutional changes, both big and small, are underway in Egypt, Fiji, Tunisia and elsewhere. Constitutional designers in these and other countries face daunting challenges in dividing powers between governmental branches, balancing state prerogatives with individual rights, and managing majority-minority relations.

  • The Modern Liberum Veto

    —Richard Albert, Boston College Law School For many, the bête noire in the United States Constitution is Article V. Sanford Levinson says that it “brings us all too close to the Lockean dream (or nightmare) of changeless stasis.” Bruce Ackerman calls it an “obsolescent obstacle course.”