Facing South

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-66
Author(s):  
Florian Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Global South ◽  
Structural Determinants ◽  
Disciplinary Identity ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Real Locus ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Types ◽  
North And South

The idea and the reality of the Global South represent different types of epistemological challenges to the disciplinary identity of comparative (constitutional) law. Taking the Global South seriously in and for comparative constitutional law must mean transcending its use as either a mere marker of supressed difference or a critical wedge against the hegemony of Western/modern constitutional concepts. The Global South must, instead, be unlocked as the real locus—not in a geographical but in a cognitive sense—of constitutional modernity the world over. Such an agenda of epistemic meridianization requires a number of methodological moves, the most important of which is the de-Weberianization of the fundamental terms and normative ideals of comparative constitutional law. De-Weberianization through a Southern lens is not limited to an ideology critique of Western modernity, but is a project to provide a more realist vision of that modernity and, thereby, a deeper understanding of ‘how the world works’ across North and South. A fundamental openness to alterity, hybridity, and contingency as the structural determinants of ‘law in practice’ is what is at the basis of the South and what enables the re-cognition of the modern world in its likeness.

The Global South and Comparative Constitutional Law

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Global South ◽  
High Time ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Constitutional Discourse

Although the Global South represents ‘most of the world’ in terms of constitutions and population, it is still underrepresented in comparative constitutional discourse. Against this background, this volume posits that it is high time for a ‘Southern turn’ in comparative constitutional scholarship. It aims to take stock of existing scholarship on the Global South and comparative constitutional law and to move the debate forward. It brings together authors who all hail from, or are based in, the Global South and who represent a range of regions, perspectives, and methodological approaches. They address the theoretical and epistemic foundations of Southern constitutionalism and discuss its distinctive themes, such as transformative constitutionalism, inequality, access to justice, and authoritarian legality. What emerges is a rich tapestry of constitutional experiences that pluralizes comparative constitutional law as discipline and field of knowledge.

Constitutional Democracy and Electoral Commissions: A Reflection from Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Rosalind Dixon ◽  
Mark Tushnet
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Global South ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law

This symposium explores the role of “fourth branch” institutions, and specifically the role of independent electoral commissions (IECs) in protecting and promoting constitutional democracy. It does so by focusing on the global South, and Asia in particular. It aims to go beyond the “usual suspects” in comparative constitutional law, and put the constitutional experiences of countries such as Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka at the centre of a decolonized constitutional project and understanding, supplementing them with an examination of more-often-studied systems such as Australia and India.

Decolonising cities of the global South in the classroom and beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-552
Author(s):  
Astrid Wood
Keyword(s):  
Global South ◽  
Colonial Literature ◽  
The South ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The North ◽  
The World ◽  
North And South

In the post-colonial context, the global South has become the approved nomenclature for the non-European, non-Western parts of the world. The term promises a departure from post-colonial development geographies and from the material and discursive legacies of colonialism by ostensibly blurring the bifurcations between developed and developing, rich and poor, centre and periphery. In concept, the post-colonial literature mitigates the disparity between cities of the North and South by highlighting the achievements of elsewhere. But what happens when we try to teach this approach in the classroom? How do we locate the South without relying on concepts of otherness? And how do we communicate the importance of the South without re-creating the regional hierarchies that have dominated for far too long? This article outlines the academic arguments before turning to the opportunities and constraints associated with delivering an undergraduate module that teaches post-colonial concepts without relying on colonial constructs.

5 How Universal is Comparative Constitutional Law?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirschl Ran
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Global South ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
European Court ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
Constitutional Pluralism

This chapter addresses issues central to comparative constitutional law’s epistemological and methodological domain. First, the possibility of comparisons of constitutional law and institutions across time and space, notably between “universalists,” who emphasize common elements of legal (and constitutional) systems across time and place, and “particularists” who emphasize the unique nature of any given legal (and constitutional) system. “Third way” alternatives such as constitutional pluralism are also examined. Second, the “global south” critique in comparative constitutional law, or how truly “comparative,” universal, or generalizable are the lessons of a body of knowledge that draws almost exclusively on a small—not necessarily representative—set of frequently studied jurisdictions and court rulings to advance what is portrayed as generic and universally applicable prescriptions. The global south critique poses major challenges to contemporary comparative constitutional inquiry but has its own analytical challenges. Examples include South Africa, India, and the European Court of Human Rights.

scholarly journals Precarity North and South: A Southern Critique of Guy Standing

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Scully
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Global South ◽  
Precarious Work ◽  
New Politics ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global North ◽  
North And South

<p>Guy Standing is among the most provocative and influential analysts of the rise of precarious work around the world. His writing is part of a wave of global labour studies that has documented the spread of precarious work throughout the Global North and South. However, this article argues that by treating precarity around the world as a single phenomenon, produced by globalisation, the work of Standing and others obscures the different and much longer history of precarious work in the Global South. This article shows how many of the features that Standing associates with the contemporary “precariat” have long been widespread among Southern workers. This longer history of precarity has important implications for contemporary debates about a new politics of labour, which is a central focus of Standing’s recent work.</p>

scholarly journals In Search of the Global East: Thinking between North and South

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 19-43
Author(s):  
Martin Müller
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Global South ◽  
Interstitial Position ◽  
Strategic Essentialism ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Connections ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
North And South ◽  
Global Relations

Carving up the world into Global North and Global South has become an established way of thinking about global difference since the end of the Cold War. This binary, however, erases what this paper calls the Global East — those countries and societies that occupy an interstitial position between North and South. This paper problematizes the geopolitics of knowledge that has resulted in the exclusion of the Global East, not just from the Global North and South, but from notions of globality in general. It argues that we need to adopt a strategic essentialism to recover the Global East for scholarship. To that end, it traces the global relations of IKEA’s bevelled drinking glass to demonstrate the urgency of rethinking the Global East at the heart of global connections, rather than separate from them. Thinking of such a Global East as a liminal space complicates the notions of North and South towards more inclusive but also more uncertain theorizing.

Semi-Presidentialism

2020 ◽  
pp. 314-338
Author(s):  
Sophie Boyron
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Fifth Republic ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Presidential Regimes

This chapter discusses semi-presidentialism, a relative newcomer to the disciplines of both comparative constitutional law and comparative politics. It first retraces the early transformation of the regime of the French Fifth Republic from parliamentary to semi-presidential regime. Secondly, the chapter analyses the early identification of this regime type and the difficulties encountered in defining it. The attempts to assess this regime are then examined. Afterwards, the chapter sketches the migration of semi-presidentialism around the world so as to understand its present spread. Finally, it suggests broadening the basis for the classification of semi-presidential regimes by highlighting the key role played by institutions other than the executive and legislature.

The Imperative of Intervention

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-47
Author(s):  
Sarah G. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Global South ◽  
State Building ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
The World ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
North And South ◽  
Peace And Development

This chapter sets the scene for Somaliland’s place within debates about the utility of northern intervention against violence and poverty in various southern contexts. It explores the way that the dominant discourse about state fragility frames the quality of domestic governance institutions in the Global South as both cause of, and solution to, the prevalence of conflict and poverty. In so doing, it brackets out alternative—nondomestic and noninstitutional—ways of understanding peace and development in the Global South. These exclusions also frame international intervention as self-evidently useful in making the world more peaceful and prosperous. The chapter argues that this dramatically overstates the impact that development or state-building interventions have because they constitute a small part of the means by which power and resources move between north and south.

Taming the Incumbency Advantage: Innovative Constitutional Designs from the "South"

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adem Abebe
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Incumbency Advantage ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Reform Processes ◽  
Design Options

This Discussion Paper was drafted for an International IDEA webinar on Taming the Incumbency Advantage (25 May 2021), the first of a series on innovative constitutional design options. It has been revised and updated to reflect contributions from webinar participants: Professor Juvence F. Ramasy (Madagascar), Professor Ridwanul Hoque (Bangladesh) and Professor Gabriel Negretto (Latin America), among others. The webinar series seeks to identify, discuss, profile and showcase the ‘hidden treasures’ of innovative constitutional/institutional design options—including from the Global ‘South’—with potential to help tackle emerging and recurrent challenges facing societies around the world. The goal is not to promote any specific institutional design, but rather to enrich conversations about constitutional reform processes and share comparative constitutional law and practice insights among academic and practitioners’ communities.

scholarly journals Uporedno ustavno pravo u delu Miodraga Jovičića

2021 ◽  
pp. 48-66
Author(s):  
Dragoljub Popović
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Original Method ◽  
World Scientific ◽  
Salient Points ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The University

Professor Miodrag Jovičić (1925–1999) was the most renowned and prolific Serbian academic in the field of comparative constitutional law. He received his LLB and PhD in law from the University of Belgrade and seldom went abroad for further studies. Although he was strongly influenced by certain French authors, his main source of inspiration was the work of Slobodan Jovanović. Politically marginalized, Jovičić used his research of comparative constitutional law as an escape from reality and the circumstances in his country. Jovičić’s work did not rely on an original method of research. On the contrary, he remained faithful to the methods developed by the mainstream of the world scientific and law community. The apogee of his work was the book Great Constitutional Systems, in which he presented his views on the subject in a systematic and synthetic way. This article presents Jovičić’s method of work and the salient points of his theoretical endeavors, as well as elaborating on his intellectual influences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document