The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional
Amendment
by Richard Albert (Author, Editor), Xenophon Contiades
(Editor), Alkmene Fotiadou (Editor)
There is growing interest in constitutional amendment
from a comparative perspective. Comparative constitutional amendment is the
study of how constitutions change through formal and informal means, including
alteration, revision, evolution, interpretation, replacement and revolution.
The field invites scholars to draw insights about constitutional change across
borders and cultures, to uncover the motivations behind constitutional change,
to theorise best practices, and to identify the theoretical underpinnings of
constitutional change. This volume is designed to guide the emergence of
comparative constitutional amendment as a distinct field of study in public
law. Much of the recent scholarship in the field has been written by the
scholars assembled in this volume. This book, like the field it hopes to shape,
is not comparative alone; it is also doctrinal, historical and theoretical, and
therefore offers a multiplicity of perspectives on a subject about which much
remains to be written. This book aspires to be the first to address
comprehensively the new dimensions of the study of constitutional amendment,
and will become a reference point for all scholars working on the subject. The
volume covers all of the topics where innovative work is being done, such as
the notion of the people, the trend of empirical quantitative approaches to
constitutional change, unamendability, sunrise clauses, constitutional
referenda, the conventional divide between constituent and constituted powers,
among other important subjects. It creates a dialogue that cuts through these
innovative conceptualisations and highlights scholarly disagreement and, in so
doing, puts ideas to the test. The volume therefore captures the fierce ongoing
debates on the relevant topics, it reveals the current trends and contested
issues, and it offers a variety of arguments elaborated by prominent experts in
the field. It will open the way for further dialogue.
