Category: Tom Ginsburg
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Whither constitutions in 2011?
The turning of the year provides an opportunity to look back at 2010 and ahead at 2011. One of the big themes in 2010 was executive attempts to extend their stay in office: we observed various strategies in Georgia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and elsewhere.
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New Constitution for the US?
The Revolutionary Communist Party has issued a new draft constitution for the Socialist Republic of North America. Only the preamble is available on the website; those interested in learning more will have to buy the book. The preamble itself, full of anachronistic language, is over 2700 words long, which would, according to a recent paper…
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Georgia’s constitutional amendments move forward
Georgia’s parliament votes today on the second reading of proposed constitutional amendments that will reduce presidential powers and increase the power of the prime minister as well as those of the parliament. The president, however, will remain directly elected, and will have some role in oversight.
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New USIP volume on constitution-making
Those interested in constitutional design should take a look at the new volume from the US Institue of Peace, Framing the State in Times of Transition: Case Studies in Constitution Making. The volume features 19 case studies of constitution-making, including well-known cases like Afghanistan and Iraq, and more obscure cases ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe.
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Turkey’s reforms
I’d be very interested to learn more from any readers in Turkey about the passage of the constitutional amendments in yesterday’s referendum. My thumbnail view is that Turkey was ahead of the game in 1982 when it adopted a “post-political” constitution, in which democratic institutions were constrained by a series of guardian institutions, including the…
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Moldova fails to fix political system
It appears that Sunday’s referendum in Moldova failed to generate enough voter interest to fix the country’s political impasse. Europe’s smallest country has been unable to elect a president for a year, and now faces parliamentary dissolution and new elections. The story begins in 2000, when the 1994 Constitution was amended to replace the directly…
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Iraqi constitutional failure and external enforcement?
A couple years ago, my co-authors and I published an examination of constitutions drafted under foreign Occupation. We wanted to ask whether constitutions drafted under such circumstances differ in quality and endurance from other constitutions (the answers were generally not). But we also identified a theoretical problem with such constitutions.
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Kenya says yes
With over half of ballots counted, it looks like Kenya’s constitution will indeed be approved by the public. Consistent with pre-referendum polls, the yes position seems to have well over 60% of public support. Remarkably, and surprisingly to many observers, the campaign before the referendum was carried out in a generally peaceful manner.
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Georgian President seeks new draft
Georgian President Saakashvili on Wednesday submitted to parliament a draft of a new constitution that would limit the power of the presidency. The opposition has opposed the move, and some speculate that Saakashvili is “pulling a Putin”: empowering a prime ministership for himself to occupy once his term ends.
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and Kyrgyz Republic passes the Constitution
Vote-counting is well under way in Kyrgyzstan. With 90% of precints counted, news reports indicate over 90% support for the new Constitution. No doubt this will be seen as a vote of confidence in the interim Otunbayeva government. Russia’s President Medvedev expressed skepticism about the ability of the parliamentary system to resolve Krgyzstan’s difficulties, including…