Earlier this month, we published the fifth edition of the International Review of Constitutional Reform (IRCR), a first-of-its-kind global effort to report on all forms of constitutional revision around the world over the past year. Each chapter is written by scholars and judges, often in collaboration. This edition contains over 100 country reports!
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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 book is co-edited by Luís Roberto Barroso and me, and we work closely with an outstanding team of Associate Editors: Elisa Boaventura, Maria Letícia Borges, Bruno Cunha, Matheus Depieri, Júlia Frade, and David Sobreira. We thank each of them most sincerely. And most of all we thank our contributors for their outstanding reports. You may see all contributors in four parts here, here, here, and here.
Ruti Teitel has written a new book: Presidential Visions of Transitional Justice. The book shows how Presidents have used the power of their office to advance transitional justice. Beginning with the presidency of George Washington and continuing through the tenure of Barack Obama, this book assesses the impact, achievements, and legacy of U.S. Presidents as peace-makers.
Constitutional Capture
Does democracy have an Achilles heel? According to The Law of Constitutional Capture – a profoundly important paper just published by the Vienna Journal of International Constitutional Law– the answer is yes. Laurence Claus argues that “having one person as chief executive is democracy’s Achilles heel, the structural feature most responsible for democratic erosion and constitutional capture.” The paper examines and evaluates alternative configurations of executive power – for instance plural and divided executives – that may hold the key to creating and maintaining robust democracies around the world.
I am grateful to all who were involved in this translation. I thank each of them for their generosity, enthusiasm, and care at every step of the editorial and publication processes. I am especially grateful to Navid Sheydaei for his excellent, insightful, and meticulous translation of this book. His tireless efforts and close engagement with my book are a gift that can never be repaid. I express my deepest appreciation also to Dr. Seyed Naser Soltani for recommending the translation of this book. It is an honor to know that a leading scholar has found my work valuable. And I am enormously thankful to Enteshar (PJSC) for publishing this translation. Words will always be insufficient to fully convey the depth of my gratitude.
The great duo of Humberto Sierra Porto and Floralba Padrón Pardo has released an important volume on presidential power in Latin America: El poder presidencial en América Latina: un poder (i)limitado.The book consists of eight chapters on the expansion of presidential power, the effect and circumvention of term limits, the impact of presidentialism on democracy, and the history and containment of hyper-presidentialism in the region. It is a book worth reading – and what a beautiful cover!
Last week, the Constitution of Kuwait turned 63 years old. Enacted on November 11, 1962, the constitution contains five major parts, one each on the State, the foundations of society, public rights and obligations, the allocation of powers, and transitional rules. The constitution was born of the desire of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem, the 11th Amir of Kuwait, to create a parliamentary system rooted in democratic foundations.
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The text was written by a committee of the 1962 Constituent Assemblyconsisting of Abdul Latif Thunayan Al-Ghanim (Speaker of the Constituent Assembly), Hamoud Al-Zaid Al-Khaled (the Minister of Justice), Yacoub Yousef Al-Humaidhi (Secretary of the Committee), Hamoud Al-Zaid Al-Khaled (Minister of Justice), and Sheikh Al-Salem (Minister of the Interior). The photo below shows Sheikh Al-Salem receiving a copy of the constitution in 1962.
The next book in the Oxford Series in Comparative Constitutionalism will soon be published: Constitutional Change Under Autocracy, a cutting-edge scholarly inquiry by Anna Fruhstorfer into how and why authoritarian states use constitutional amendments to buttress their power and to prolong the endurance of their rule. This book – which highlights Azerbaijan, Mexico, and East Germany as case studies – is sure to be a candidate for 2026 book of the year.
The mission of the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism is to marshal knowledge and experience to build a world of opportunity, liberty, and dignity for all.
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