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.
"Introduction: Imposition in Making and Changing Constitutions; Part I: Theory; 1: Imposed Constitutions: Heteronomy and (Un)amendability; 2: Imposed Constitutions and Romantic Constitutions; 3: Internally Imposed Constitutions; 4: Legal Theology in Imposed Constitutionalism; Part II: Forms; 5: Constitutions Imposed with Consent?; 6: Are ""Octroyed Constitutions"" of the 19th century to be Considered as Imposed Constitutions?; 7: Inter-Venire, Sed Ubi Iri?: ""Imposed"" Constitutions, the ""Will of the People"", and the Eye of the Beholder; Part III: Applications; 8: On the Priority that Publius Gives to National Security in Constitutional Design: Reflections on the Longevity of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution; 9: The Constituent Power of the ""Imposed"" Constitution of Japan: An Amalgam of Internationalised Revolutionary Power and Nationalistic Devolutionary Power; 10: The Legitimacy of Internationally Imposed Constitution-Making in the Context of State Building; 11: A post-national legal order: Does the European Union have an imposed constitution?; 12: Texts in a Time of Imposition: Lessons from Two Imposed Constitutions in Africa;"
Richard Albert, William Stamps Farish Professor of Law, The University of Texas at Austin; Co-Editor, Routledge Series on Comparative Constitutional Change; Book Reviews Editor, American Journal of Comparative Law Xenophon Contiades, Professor of Public Law, Panteion University; Managing Director of the Centre for European Constitutional Law, Athens, Greece; Co-Editor, Routledge Series on Comparative Constitutional Change Alkmene Fotiadou, Research Fellow, Centre for European Constitutional Law; Co-Editor, Routledge Series on Comparative Constitutional Change
