Constitutional rigidity in the countries with consociational democratic approach – a comparative perspective

Abstract

The constitution is the heart of every nation, and because of its unique, complete and prevailing nature, modifying it cannot be simple. Hence, the term constitutional rigidity which provides for the protection of the constitution from changes or makes rendering modification of the same more difficult has been introduced in science. The subject of interest in this paper is the degree of constitutional rigidity in some of the countries with consociational democracy. These are countries in which the building of a stable constitutional order and its maintenance is a challenge, since in this type of states; there is some form of ethnic and cultural diversity. In the past few decades, the international community has been seriously involved in the state building process. This often involved creating new constitutions with consociational elements in some postconflict and deeply divided societies such as -Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia, and Kosovo. It is precisely the question of the constitutional rigidity in these three newly created consociations that forms the subject of analysis in this paper.