Overview

The contributions to this book analyse and submit to critique authoritarian constitutionalism as an important phenomenon in its own right, not merely as a deviant of liberal constitutionalism. Accordingly, the fourteen studies cover a variety of authoritarian regimes from Hungary to Apartheid South Africa, from China to Venezuela; from Syria to Argentina, and discuss the renaissance of authoritarian agendas and movements, such as populism, Trumpism, nationalism and xenophobia. From different theoretical perspectives the authors elucidate how authoritarian power is constituted, exercised and transferred in the different configurations of popular participation, economic imperatives, and imaginary community. Authoritarian Constitutionalism is of great interest to teachers, scholars and students of comparative constitutional law, comparative politics, and legal and political theory. Contributors include: H. Alviar García, D. Davis, M.W. Dowdle, O. El Manfalouty, G. Frankenberg, R. Gargarella, J. González Jácome, D. Kennedy, E. Mérieau, S. Newton, N. Spaulding, N. Sultany, M. Wilkinson, H. Yamamoto

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9781788117845

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Reviews

'The terms authoritarian constitutionalism may appear contradictory; but as this rich and far-reaching collection of essays demonstrates it is a widespread phenomenon which must be taken seriously at a time when democracy is under threat worldwide. This superb collection serves variously as an introduction to the topic, a penetrating theoretical and jurisprudential analysis, a new lens from which to view important debates about issues such as nationhood and inequality, and a global examination of the varying forms of authoritarian constitutionalism. It also sheds uncomfortable light on what we take to be exemplary, liberal and democratic constitutionalism. The result is the elaboration of an illuminating framework with which to study global and comparative constitutionalism.' -- Tony Anghie, National University of Singapore and University of Utah, US 'What if the liberal belief in a Constitution as safeguard and backbone of a democratic, inclusive and egalitarian society turned out to be wrong? The contributors to this extremely well-curated volume provide challenging evidence of the myriad ways in which constitutional texts and practices can and in fact do facilitate, endorse and empower authoritarianism. Calling for a critical reevaluation of liberal constitutionalism, this analysis - from Colombia to the US, Hungary to South Africa, Egypt to Singapore and Japan - is more than just an annotation at the margins of a self-involved, European script of global constitutionalism . It emphasizes the need and value of connecting comparative constitutionalist local ethnographies in the North , the South , the West and the East with a thorough analysis of transnational regulatory dynamics, -- Peer Zumbansen, King's College London, UK and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada

`The terms `authoritarian constitutionalism' may appear contradictory; but as this rich and far-reaching collection of essays demonstrates it is a widespread phenomenon which must be taken seriously at a time when democracy is under threat worldwide. This superb collection serves variously as an introduction to the topic, a penetrating theoretical and jurisprudential analysis, a new lens from which to view important debates about issues such as nationhood and inequality, and a global examination of the varying forms of authoritarian constitutionalism. It also sheds uncomfortable light on what we take to be exemplary, liberal and democratic constitutionalism. The result is the elaboration of an illuminating framework with which to study global and comparative constitutionalism.' -- Tony Anghie, National University of Singapore and University of Utah, US `What if the liberal belief in a Constitution as safeguard and backbone of a democratic, inclusive and egalitarian society turned out to be wrong? The contributors to this extremely well-curated volume provide challenging evidence of the myriad ways in which constitutional texts and practices can and in fact do facilitate, endorse and empower authoritarianism. Calling for a critical reevaluation of liberal constitutionalism, this analysis - from Colombia to the US, Hungary to South Africa, Egypt to Singapore and Japan - is more than just an annotation at the margins of a self-involved, European script of `global constitutionalism'. It emphasizes the need and value of connecting comparative constitutionalist local ethnographies in `the North', `the South', the `West' and `the East' with a thorough analysis of transnational regulatory dynamics, -- Peer Zumbansen, King's College London, UK and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada

Author Information

Edited by Helena Alviar García, Professor, École de droit, Sciences Po, France and Günter Frankenberg, Emeritus Professor of Public Law, Philosophy of Law and Comparative Law, Institute for Public Law, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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