"The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Change provides a comprehensive reference tool for all those working in the field and a thorough landscape of all theoretical and practical aspects of the topic. Coherence from this aspect does not suggest a common view, as the chapters address different topics, but reinforces the establishment of Comparative Constitutional Change as a distinct field. The book brings together the most respected scholars working in the field, and presents a genuine contribution to comparative constitutional studies, comparative public law, political science and constitutional history"--
Constitutions are often seen as the product of the free will of a people exercising their constituent power. This, however, is not always the case, particularly when it comes to 'imposed constitutions'. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the idea of imposition in constitutional design, but the literature does not yet provide a comprehensive resource to understand the meanings, causes and consequences of an imposed constitution. This volume examines the theoretical and practical questions emerging from what scholars have described as an imposed constitution. A diverse group of contributors interrogates the theory, forms and applications of imposed constitutions with the aim of refining our understanding of this variation on constitution-making. Divided into three parts, this book first considers the conceptualization of imposed constitutions, suggesting definitions, or corrections to the definition, of what exactly an imposed constitution is. The contributors then go on to explore the various ways in which constitutions are, and can be, imposed. The collection concludes by considering imposed constitutions that are currently in place in a number of polities worldwide, problematizing the consequences their imposition has caused. Cases are drawn from a broad range of countries with examples at both the national and supranational level. This book addresses some of the most important issues discussed in contemporary constitutional law: the relationship between constituent and constituted power, the source of constitutional legitimacy, the challenge of foreign and expert intervention and the role of comparative constitutional studies in constitution-making. The volume will be a valuable resource for those interested in the phenomenon of imposed constitutionalism as well as anyone interested in the current trends in the study of comparative constitutional law.
Amendment power, constituent power, and popular sovereignty : linking unamendability and amendment procedures / Yaniv Roznai -- Constitutional theory and cognitive estrangement : beyond revolutions, amendments, and constitutional moments / Zoran Oklopcic -- Constraints on constitutional amendment powers / Oran Doyle -- Comment on Doyle's constraints on constitutional amendment powers / Mark Tushnet -- Constituting the amendment power : a framework for comparative amendment law / Thomaz Pereira -- Siey's The spirit of constitutional democracy? / Luisa Fernanda García López -- Revolutionary reform in Venezuela : electoral rules and historical narratives in the creation of the 1999 Constitution / Joshua Braver -- "Revolutionary reform" and the seduction of constitutionalism / Juliano Zaiden Benvindo -- Constitutional sunrise / Sofia Ranchordás -- Constitutional change and interest group politics : Ireland's children's rights referendum / Oran Doyle and David Kenny -- Amendment-metrics : the good, the bad, and the frequently amended constitution / Xenophon Contiades and Alkmene Fotiadou -- Metrics : the good, the bad, and the frequently amended constitution / James E Fleming -- Formal amendment rules and constitutional endurance : the strange case of the commonwealth Caribbean / Derek O'Brien -- Constituting "the people" : the paradoxical place of the formal amendment procedure in Australian constitutionalism / Lael K Weis -- Hard amendment cases in Canada / Kate Glover -- The French people's role in amending the constitution : a French constitutional analysis from a pure legal perspective / Jean-Philippe Derosier -- The implication of conflation of normal and "constitutional politics" on constitutional change in Africa / Duncan Okubasu -- Direct democracy and constitutional change in the US : institutional learning from state laboratories / Dr Jurgen Goossens.
