How 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 MoreTheunis 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
Read MoreIn 2024, India elected its third consecutive majoritarian government, whose term lasts until 2029. Over the past decade, democratic institutions have faced growing challenges, with concerns over their resilience and independence
Read MoreIf Lindewe Sisulu, Transport Minister of South Africa, thought that the Constitution of South Africa was like a “Panadol” providing momentary relief, Theunis Roux’s article bringing that Constitution into conversation with the much older Indian Constitution is like a balm. It burns at first blush, but when it settles, it has a soothing feeling.
Read MoreIn his interesting article Roux presents us with two grand narratives that describe the constitutionalisms of India and South Africa since the enactment of their constitutions of 1950 and 1996 respectively
Read MoreThe blog of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL)
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