How Constitutions Change

The constitutional arrangements in many countries are changing, for a range of reasons, including internal and external pressures, and this set of essays explores how those changes happen. Changes may be formal, involving amendments to the texts of Constitutions or the passage of legislation of a clearly constitutional kind; or informal and organic, as where court decisions affect the operation of the system of government, or where new administrative and other arrangements (eg agencification) affect or articulate or alter the operation of the constitution of the country, without the need to resort to formal change. The volume includes studies of a range of common and civil law systems, presidential, parliamentary and federal systems, a former Communist state and developing countries. In the last two chapters the editors conduct a detailed comparative analysis of the jurisdiction-based chapters and explore the question whether any overarching theory or theories about constitutional change in liberal democracies emerge from the study. "a valuable compendium, making information on a number of less known constitutional systems available in English...comparative public lawyers will no doubt value the information on how constitutions change in the various legal systems assembled and represented in the volume. " Michal Bobek, Cambridge Law Journal " a lively picture is drawn of the different constitutional cultures including historic, political, legal or social aspects...exciting and surprising details about constitutions all over the world...a first approach to a theory of constitutional change. Sebastian Schmid, International Journal of Constitutional Law "authoritative academic commentary and reflections on the evolution of contemporary democratic principles...rich in insights which should encourage researchers to pursue comparative research...a uniquely effective approach to the task." Pier Luigi Petrillo, Percorsi Costituzionali "The Authors note that a constitution totally unsuited for change sooner or later is doomed to become an instrument incapable of serving its purpose, bound therefore to be superseded. In the end, they believe that constitutional patriotism is best served by ensuring that a given set of constitutional arrangements can be adapted and incrementally changed rather than making out of it a petrified object of devotion. And I would agree with them." Prof. Stefano Ceccanti, former Italian MP, www.federalismi.it