The 2020 International Review of Constitutional Reform

Abstract

This inaugural edition of The International Review of Constitutional Reform (ISBN: 978-1-7374527-0-6) is the first scholarly effort to gather jurisdictional reports--written by scholars and judges, often in collaboration--on all forms of constitutional revision around the world over the past year. Each report explains and contextualizes events in constitutional reform over the previous year in a given jurisdiction. Constitutional reform is defined broadly to include constitutional amendment, constitutional dismemberment, constitutional mutation, constitutional replacement and other events in constitutional reform, including the judicial review of constitutional amendments.

In order to facilitate cross-jurisdictional comparison, all reports follow the same format:

“INTRODUCTION,” which offers a brief overview of the year in constitutional reform;
• “PROPOSED, FAILED, AND SUCCESSFUL CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS,” which examines proposed constitutional reforms and explains the reasons for their failure or success;
• “THE SCOPE OF REFORMS AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONTROL,” which evaluates the proposed reforms and explains whether they were the subject of constitutional review;
• “LOOKING AHEAD,” which identifies the big questions that await the jurisdiction in the context of constitutional reform in the year or years ahead; and
• “FURTHER READING,” which recommends relevant readings for those interested in learning more about the reforms discussed in the report.

The IRCR is a joint initiative of the Program on Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin in partnership with the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism. The Co-Editors of this new resource in the study of constitutions have worked closely with an outstanding team of Associate Editors: Giulia Andrade, Elisa Boaventura, Bruno Cunha, Matheus Depieri, Júlia Frade, and Pedro Martins. We thank each of them for their invaluable contributions to this project. We also thank Simon Renwick for his innovation, precision, and vision in designing this book.

Keywords: Constitutional Reform, Constitutional Revision, Constitutional Amendment, Constitutional Dismemberment, Comparative Constitutional Law, Constitutionalism, Constitution-Making, Constitutional Design