'We, the People' Entitlement Within Constitutional Change

Católica Law Review Vol. 1/2019

14 Pages Posted: 18 Jun 2019

See all articles by Neliana Rodean

Neliana Rodean

University of Verona - Department of Law

Date Written: June 8, 2019

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have produced literature in constitutional amendments, in particular in analyzing the unamendability phenomenon and its relationship with democracy, abusive and populist constitutionalism. The study of constitutional design is of interest, in large part, because a constitution can be amended and such processes make room for the fundamental questions about legitimacy of the constitutional order, the holder and the locus of sovereignty, especially in those legal orders where a popular legitimated process of altering the constitution is entrenched. Indeed, in some legal orders “We, the People” are called to initiate and/or approve any constitutional change. In this view, the paper brings the reader alongside the “We, the People” claim, stressing, though in restrictive manner, who are “the people”, how they act and react, and when their action unveil a(n) (un)constitutional change, in order to draw citizens-led constitutional changes grounded on three keywords – populism, (un)constitutional amendments and constitutionalism. The paper is an invitation to the development of “the people” approaches in a constitutional framework that struck populism as democracy’s sentinel.

Keywords: constitutional change, popular identity, populism, (un)constitutional amendments, constitutionalism

Suggested Citation

Rodean, Neliana, 'We, the People' Entitlement Within Constitutional Change (June 8, 2019). Católica Law Review Vol. 1/2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3401281 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3401281

Neliana Rodean (Contact Author)

University of Verona - Department of Law ( email )

Italy

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