This book, the result of a major international conference held at Yale Law School, contains contributions from leading scholars in public law who engage critically with Bruce Ackerman's path-breaking book, Revolutionary Constitutions: Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law. The book also features a rebuttal chapter by Ackerman in which he responds directly to the contributors' essays.



Some advance Ackerman's theory, others attack it, and still others refine it – but all agree that the ideas in his book reset the terms of debate on the most important subjects in constitutionalism today: from the promise and perils of populism to the causes and consequences of democratic backsliding, from the optimal models of constitutional design to the forms and limits of constitutional amendment, and from the role of courts in politics to how we identify when the mythical 'people' have spoken. A must-read for all interested in the current state of constitutionalism.

 

Table Of Contents:



Introduction: A Global Tour of Constitutionalism

Richard Albert

1. A Political, not a Legal History of the Rise of Worldwide Constitutionalism

Dieter Grimm



PART I

THE LEGITIMATING FOUNDATIONS OF REVOLUTIONARY CONSTITUTIONALISM

2. A Defence of Non-representational Constitutionalism: Why Constitutions Need not be Representational

Alon Harel

3. Constitutionalism and Society: Ackerman on Worldwide Constitution-Making and the Role of Social Forces

Denis Baranger

4. Bruce Ackerman's Theory of History

Roberto Gargarella

5. Constitutionalism and the Predicament of Postcolonial Independence

Aziz Rana

6. Revolution on a Human Scale: Liberal Values, Populist Theory?

Andrew Arato



PART II

CONSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS

7. Charismatic Fictions and Constitutional Politics

Tom Ginsburg

8. Uncharismatic Revolutionary Constitutionalism

Stephen Gardbaum

9. Unconventional Adaptation and the Authenticity of the Constitution

Alessandro Ferrara

10. Constitutional Revolution, Legal Positivism and Constituent Power

Yasuo Hasebe

11. The Traditions of Constitutional Change

Richard Albert



PART III

THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

12. Constitutional Crossroads: A View from Europe

Neil Walker

13. How Europe Brought Judicial Review to France: A Response to Bruce Ackerman

Daniel Halberstam

14. Constituting the Judiciary, Constituting Europe

Mitchel Lasser



PART IV

THE LAW AND POLITICS OF REVOLUTION

15. Sustaining Revolutionary Constitutions: From Movement Party to Movement Court

Menaka Guruswamy

16. The Italian Constitution as a Revolutionary Agreement

Marta Cartabia

17. Constitutional Strategy for a Polarised Society: Learning from Poland's Post-revolutionary Misfortunes

Maciej Kisilowski

18. Choosing to Have Had a Revolution: Lessons from South Africa's Undecided Constitutionalism

James Fowkes

19. The Race against Time

Bruce Ackerman