Exploring Subnational Constitutionalism

Abstract

This special issue of the journal is entirely devoted to subnational constitutionalism. To do so, it tries to adopt a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective and to identify constitutional patterns in those federal or regional contexts where subnational polities do not have a legal document formally called “constitution”. Some contributions have a national focus (on Belgium, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Ethiopia, and Macao). Other pieces, instead, consider the phenomenon from a comparative perspective, focusing on the external relations of subnational polities, the distinctive aspects of legislatures and legislative power at this institutional level, and the role of ordinary and constitutional judges.

Keywords: Subnational constitutionalism, Comparative constitutional law, Comparative federalism