A Globalizing Constitutionalism?

Abstract

This article uses primary data from the constitutional texts of 91 postcolonial nations (over the course of the latter part of the 20th century) to question the effects of global political norms upon documentary constitutionalism. The independence constitutions were strongly influenced by intra-imperial and transnational lines of circulation, but not global ones. They were differentiated by former empire, religion and political-economic ideology. A significant change came about during the 1990s, when most of these original constitutions were rewritten or replaced. The newer constitutions are more isomorphic than before, indicating the global influence of democratization, human rights ideology and economic neoliberalism. On the other hand, this process of homogenization has been tempered by two countervailing processes: constitutional complexification and differentiation. These processes produce syncretic forms within and across constitutions. They reveal that divergence can unfold concomitantly with, rather than in spite of, constitutional convergence.

Religion und ihre Einbettung in Verfassungen als Kontext

“…Soziologische Beiträge zu Verfassungen und ihrem ordnenden Charakter entwerfen eine vielfältige Perspektive auf ihre gesellschaftliche Verortung: Sie befassen sich mit unterschiedlichen Verfassungskulturen (z. B. Häberle 1998; Witte und Bucholc 2016), mit der historischen Einbettung und den gesellschaftlichen Konstellationen ihrer Entstehung (Boli-Bennett 1979;Go 2003;Elkins et al 2009;Thornhill 2011;Schmidt 2012), mit Fragen nach der Integrationsfähigkeit von Verfassungen (Vorländer 2002), mit Verfassungen als symbolischer Ordnung (Vorländer 2017) oder mit dem Spannungsverhältnis von nationalen Verfassungen und Globalisierung (Boli-Bennett 1979;Go 2003;Heintz und Schnabel 2006;Thornhill 2017). Selten werden Verfassungen soziologisch hinsichtlich ihrer identitätsstiftenden Kraft in den Blick genommen.…”

What Can We Learn from Written Constitutions?

“…In sum, the development of a norm of constitution writing was quick and comprehensive. In the space of 50 years or so in the early nineteenth century, constitutions had become a thoroughly necessary element in the script of newly independent states (Go 2003, Krucken & Drori 2009. By the middle of the twentieth century, even older states had adopted the practice.…”

World influences on human rights language in constitutions: A cross-national study

“…A demonstration of these points appears in national constitutions. These documents turn out to be quite stylized, reflecting globally standardized notions of what the state is about and what it is to do (see Go, 2003;Thornhill, 2008). And over time, they incorporate greatly expanded conceptions of the rights of national citizens (Boli, 1976(Boli, , 1987.…”

“…And for the most part these countries have relatively recent constitutions or, as in the case of the extensively enumerated rights of Latvia and Hungary, have aggressively amended older constitutions in the wake of a democratic transition. Thus, it appears that constitutional language may be a product of the interaction of national experiences with the global human rights discourse that is exogenous to any one state (see Go, 2003). For illustrative purposes, Figure 1 presents scatterplots of the proportion of rights that are framed as human rights by the year of a constitution's original writing and then by the corresponding cumulative number of human rights instruments in the world (see the indicators section below for measurement details) for the 180 constitutions that have been written since 1914.…”

“…Previous research has examined the rise and spread of human rights and their penetration into international and national institutions (e.g., Cole, 2005;Elliott, 2007Elliott, , 2008Hafner-Burton and Tsutsui, 2005;Koo and Ramirez, 2009;Lauren, 2003;Stacy, 2009;Suárez, 2007;Tsutsui and Wotipka, 2004). Yet consideration of the impact of human rights on the most fundamental national statement of rights, the constitution, has been limited (with the notable exceptions of Arjomand [1992] and Go [2003]). Given the highly symbolic nature of accession to human rights principles, constitutions seem natural places for such discourse.…”