Constitution-Making and Transnational Legal Order

Description

Since the rise of the nation-state in the nineteenth century, constitutions have been seen as an embodiment of national values and identity. However, individuals, ideas, and institutions from abroad have always influenced constitutions, and so the process is better described as transnational. As cross-border interaction is increasing in intensity, a dominant transnational legal order for constitutions has emerged, with its own norms, guidelines and shared ideas. Yet both the process and substance of constitution-making are being contested in divergent and insurgent constitutional orders. Bringing together leading scholars from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, this volume addresses the actors, networks, norms and processes involved in constitution-making, as well as the related challenges, from a transnational and comparative perspective. Drawing from the research on transnational legal orders, this work explores and examines constitution-making in every region of the world.

Gregory Shaffer is Chancellor's Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law. Tom Ginsburg is Leo Spitz Professor of International Law at the University of Chicago Law School and a Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation. Terence C. Halliday is a Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation.

'This collection of rich and rigorous essays is tremendously valuable in solidifying our understanding of constitutions as transnational documents and constitution-making as a transnational process. It also compellingly shows the theoretical pay-offs of applying the 'Transnational Legal Order' framework to constitutional questions.' Mila Versteeg, University of Virginia School of Law 'A wide range of transnational influences now shape democratic constitutions, for better or worse. Some of these influences are old, others new, yet we lack a systematic understanding of their direction and impact. This volume brings together leading public law scholars to reflect on the role of these influences on national democratic constitutional processes. This volume should be considered compulsory reading for all those interested in the future of global governance and democratic constitutionalism.' Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales, Sydney 'Readers will emerge with a new understanding of how constitutions are made and remade. The authors disrupt the central claim in constitutional theory that constitutions are autochthonous creations reflecting purely national values and expressing local views. This book should become a focal point of reference in studies of constitution-making and constitutional change.' Richard Albert, William Stamps Farish Professor of Law, University of Texas, Austin