In recent years, particularly in March and April 2025, as part of a plan to execute an illegal secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), one of its two subnational units – Republika Srpska (RS) – has undertaken various legal actions.
Read MoreIn a parliamentary democracy, the will of the people, as expressed through their elected legislature, is paramount. But what happens when, in a federal system, a centrally appointed constitutional head of state uses procedural delays to effectively veto that will in respect of the elected legislature of a State?
Read MoreThe framers of the Constitution envisioned certain constitutional offices, such as those of State Governors, as nonpartisan, impartial “constitutional functionaries”. However, in recent times, such positions have become increasingly politicized.
Read MoreRather than responding to each comment seriatim, I will engage with what I take to be the three main themes running through them: (1) the existence of a diverse tradition of anti-colonial thought in India not fully captured by the dichotomy I draw between the Liberal-Progressivist and Culturalist Grand Narratives (the LPN and CGN); (2) the value of using that dichotomy as a heuristic device for understanding debates over the future of constitutionalism in India and South Africa as against recognising a wider variety of constitutionalisms; and (3) the generalisability beyond India and South Africa of the dialogue I reconstruct between the LPN and the CGN.
Read MoreHow do you amend an unamendable constitution? In February this year, the Fijian government tried and failed by one vote to secure the 75 per cent majority needed to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill.
Read MoreParliamentary democracies show a few different ways of arranging seats in the legislative chamber, which can promote certain constitutional values. For example, confronting benches can encourage heated scrutiny of public policy, while a hemicycle arrangement can highlight the diversity of opinion among legislators.
Read MoreSince 20 January and Donald Trump's inauguration, Elon Musk, for now director of the Trump administration's Office of Government Efficiency, has used his platform, whose algorithm helps to increase the visibility of his posts, to promote his conservative views but also his blatant disregard for the basic principles of the rule of law.
Read MoreSe ha abierto el plazo de inscripción de participantes y el de presentación de resúmenes y solicitudes de ponencias (call for papers) para el Congreso Mundial de Derecho Constitucional que va a tener lugar del 6 al 10 de julio de 2026 en la Universidad de Externado en Bogotá (Colombia)
Read MoreFace aux crises que connaissent la France et la société internationale, on en appelle à l’Europe pour faire face au danger russe et au retrait américain. L’Europe apparait alors comme la solution. Pourtant l’Europe est aussi le problème.
Read MoreOn 20 March 2025, the Indonesian House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) passed a controversial amendment to Law No. 34 of 2004 concerning the Indonesian National Military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI). This amendment, which expands the scope for active-duty military officers to occupy civilian positions without resigning from military service, has sparked mass protests, particularly among university students in major cities across the country.
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The constitution, including the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, is a living document that must to some extent respond to social developments. However, as I will show in this post, not all proposals for amending constitutional texts are desirable, especially if constitutional actors are not completely serious about the change.
Read MoreWhen faced with the most serious threat to its functionality since its establishment by the Dayton Peace Accords (1995) – as entity legislatures have been defying the obligation to fill judicial vacancies and with three other judges about to reach their mandated retirement age – the Constitutional Court (the ‘Court’) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (‘BiH’) reached out to the Venice Commission (the ‘Commission’) for help in January 2024.
Read MoreBangladesh finds itself at a critical point. The political turmoil of 2024, which ended Sheikh Hasina’s long rule and brought down the Awami League (AL) government, has ushered in a fragile era of reform under interim leader Prof.
Read MoreThe Venice Commission frequently works in the realm of elections. It has adopted opinions and codes of good practice, guidelines, and other documents on elections, electoral procedures, electoral legislation, and referendums since its foundation in 1990.
Read MoreThe remarkable and tragic victory of the Syrian revolution – after a brutal one-and-a-half decade struggle, marked by hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced citizens – finally witnessed its dawn on December 7, 2024
Read MoreIn his essay, Theunis Roux identifies an important challenge to democratic constitutionalism and one that increasingly appears to jeopardize the democratic constitutional project not only in countries such as India and South Africa but in other countries of the Global South and former colonies
Read MoreThere is a palpable shift in how the Philippine Supreme Court is engaging societal issues. An institution empowered by a post-dictatorship constitution to look into grave abuses of discretion, the Court has now ventured into the waters of wider public advocacy
Read MoreIn his book Phantom Architecture, Philip Wilkinson offers that “some of the most exciting buildings in the history of architecture are the ones that never got built”: a mile-high skyscraper; a dome to cover most of downtown Manhattan; an enormous elephant-shaped triumphal arch (where the Arc de Triomphe in Paris now stands).
Read MoreThe blog of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL)
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