Sham Constitutions

Law, David S.; Versteeg, Mila

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1989979

Cited by 43 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This approach implicitly acknowledges that the function of a constitution needs to be understood in its social, political and economic context. There are claims that some constitutions, so‐called “sham” constitutions, fail to live up to a relative standard of rights protection based on comparative quantitative analysis (Law and Versteeg ). Qualitative research has been able to offer a contextualized analysis and pay close attention to local debates and the conditions that enable courts to protect rights claims in authoritarian regimes, from Egypt to Pakistan and Chile (Barros ; Hilbink ; Moustafa ; ; ; Newberg ).…”

Section: Authoritarian Constitutionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-emptive Constitution-Making: Authoritarian Constitutionalism and the Military in Myanmar

Crouch¹

2020

Law Soc Rev

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Constitutions are an important feature of many authoritarian regimes. But what role do they in fact perform in processes of authoritarian regime stabilization and legitimation? Much of the contemporary literature focuses on authoritarian constitutionalism in transitions away from constitutional democracy. This article considers the opposite scenario: pre‐emptive constitution‐making as a mechanism of authoritarian constitutionalism to contain a potential transition toward constitutional democracy. This is illustrated through the case of Myanmar. Since the 1960s, Myanmar has experienced successive periods of direct military rule without a constitution, followed since 2011 by a new constitution. Adding to the comparative literature on constitutions in authoritarian regimes, this article explains how pre‐emptive constitution‐making limits a transition to liberal democracy and contributes to authoritarian‐regime resilience. This article further identifies “military‐state” constitutionalism as a variation of authoritarian constitutionalism in Myanmar. The case of Myanmar offers comparative insights into the ways constitutions are used to contain transitions to constitutional democracy and illustrates the varieties inherent in authoritarian constitutionalism.

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Section: Authoritarian Constitutionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-emptive Constitution-Making: Authoritarian Constitutionalism and the Military in Myanmar

Crouch¹

2020

Law Soc Rev

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“…It is also possible, however, that conventional constitutional theory might be too optimistic, especially when it comes to torture prohibitions. In some cases, constitutional commitments might be adopted under false pretenses, in which case they are nothing but empty promises (Law and Versteeg 2013). Especially autocratic nations commonly pay lip service to international norms, without intending to implement them.…”

Section: The Limits Of Constitutional Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, we explore whether our results might be driven by sham constitutions adopted by the authoritarian regimes in our sample. It is well documented that autocratic regimes often adopt constitutions that are nothing but empty promises, and are enacted merely to appease the international community (Law and Versteeg 2013). Indeed, in her analysis on human rights treaties, Beth Simmons omits these "false positives," that is, the states commit to human rights on paper without an intention to respect these rights in practice (Simmons 2009, 18).…”

Section: Figure 5: Estimated Effect Of Torture Prohibitions -Without mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Inefficacy of Constitutional Torture Prohibitions

Chilton

Versteeg

2014

SSRN Journal

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The prohibition of torture is one of the most emblematic norms of the modern human rights movement, and its prevalence in national constitution has increased steeply in the past three decades. Yet little is known about whether constitutional torture prohibitions actually reduce torture. In this paper, we explore the relationship between constitutional torture prohibitions and torture by utilizing new data that corrects for biases in previous measures of torture, and a recently developed method that mitigates selection bias by incorporating information on countries' constitutional commitments into our research design. Using this new data and method, as well as more conventional data sources and methods, we do not find any evidence that constitutional torture prohibitions have reduced rates of torture in a statistically significant or substantively meaningful way.

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“…Namely, range of constitutions "without constitutionalism" 18 and "sham constitutions". 19 As Mazmanyan highlighted the constitutionalism in former Soviet Union States "has failed to meet the definition in several ways, but most importantly in that it continuously lacked sensitivity to the most essential aspect limit on government." 20…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Constitution without Constitutionalism? Challenges to constitutionalism in the Kyrgyz Republic

Toktogazieva¹

2019

CONSREV

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Application of basic principles revolving around the constitutionalism into third wave democracies, produced such phenomenon as constitutions “without constitutionalism”. This paper will revisit and discuss this issue in the context of the Kyrgyz Republic. Main argument and thesis of the paper is following: Where a viable balance of power exists, a constitutional court acquires importance as a key element of that order, thus promoting the constitutionalism. If no such balance exists, the constitutional court will soon become a tool of the more dominant powers and thus lose its relevance for a genuine constitutional order. The abovementioned thesis will be demonstrated by the example of the work of Constitutional Court of the Kyrgyz Republic. Mainly it first aims at providing a proper foundation and basic understanding of constitutionalism, further revisiting this concept in the context of Former Soviet Union and finally will discuss the development of constitutionalism in Kyrgyzstan along with challenges faced by the court.

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Sham Constitutions

Cited by 43 publications

References 3 publications

Pre-emptive Constitution-Making: Authoritarian Constitutionalism and the Military in Myanmar

Pre-emptive Constitution-Making: Authoritarian Constitutionalism and the Military in Myanmar

The Inefficacy of Constitutional Torture Prohibitions

Constitution without Constitutionalism? Challenges to constitutionalism in the Kyrgyz Republic

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