Global Constitutionalism

Discussion

Winston P. Nagan and Shannon Lahey:

"Today, a central weakness of the global system of public order is that it is underscored by a weak form of constitutionalism. States with democratic orders tend to have relatively strong forms of constitutionalism. The interdependence of peace, constitutionalism, and human rights, and democracy is in fact based on a deeper understanding of what constitutionalism is, how it functions, and its capacity for peace and security.

What is not well understood is the social process context of constitutionalism. This is a matter that needs to be more carefully expressed because the foundation of constitutionalism depends on the contextual understanding of the power process behind the community, be it on the state or international level. Constitutions are an outcome of the way in which the power process expresses itself. The power process comprises participators with perspectives of identity, demands, and expectations. These participators have to manage base values that permit the institutionalization of power arrangements, and these power arrangements, if adequately managed, will express the allocation of powers and competencies within the body politic.

The constitution provides this kind of framework so that the competences between the political players can be revised and modified peacefully. The allocation of competences reflects the evolution of civil, political and human rights, and the promise of constitutionalism that these rights will be stabilized and that they will endure."

(https://cadmusjournal.org/article/volume-4/issue-4/global-constitutionalism)