Workshop my Paper Series – Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism: Response to Commentators

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Workshop my Paper Series – Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism: Response to Commentators

Theunis ROUX

Rather 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.

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Accountability and the Tripartition of Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom

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Accountability and the Tripartition of Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom

Maximilian TAYLOR

Parliamentary 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.

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Indonesia’s New Military Law and the Ghost of Consensus-Based Constitutional Transition

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Indonesia’s New Military Law and the Ghost of Consensus-Based Constitutional Transition

Abdurrachman SATRIO

On 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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Current proposals to amend the Constitution of the Slovak Republic: constitutional amendment as a political tool?

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Current proposals to amend the Constitution of the Slovak Republic: constitutional amendment as a political tool?

Marek DOMIN

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.

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Crossing the Rubicon: What is Next for the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

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Crossing the Rubicon: What is Next for the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Harun ISERIC

When 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.

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Election Observers as an Integral Part of Democratic Elections: The Venice Commission’s Report on Election Observers as Human Rights Defenders

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Election Observers as an Integral Part of Democratic Elections: The Venice Commission’s Report on Election Observers as Human Rights Defenders

Selin ESEN

The 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.

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Global Varieties of Constitutionalism and Contestations of Liberalism: How do Theunis Roux’s Grand Narratives on India and South Africa fit in?

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Global Varieties of Constitutionalism and Contestations of Liberalism: How do Theunis Roux’s Grand Narratives on India and South Africa fit in?

Michael RIEGNER

In 2016, Mark Tushnet called for “a richer taxonomy of varieties of constitutionalism” that would “unsettle the view that liberal constitutionalism simply is constitutionalism, and that all other varieties are defective”.

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Beyond a Bimodal Southern Democratic Constitutionalism

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Beyond a Bimodal Southern Democratic Constitutionalism

Heinz KLUG

Theunis Roux has made an important contribution in stimulating a debate over the nature of ‘Southern Democratic Constitutionalism’ (SDC) and what he describes as the two approaches to SDC which he places in dialogue with one another while arguing that they together reflect and contribute to a single dynamic version of SDC

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