Why is it so difficult to change constitutions?

Episode 3 of the Constitutions For Democracy podcast, hosted by Michelle Olguin Flückliger, titled "Why is it so difficult to change constitutions?" was published on February 16, 2022 and runs 22 minutes.

February 16, 2022 ·22m · Constitutions For Democracy

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Summary

The elaboration of new constitutions in stable and consolidated democracies is uncommon. Quite often, constitutions in force either do not regulate their replacement or put in place obstacles that make change very difficult. These difficulties in times of crises of legitimacy provide incentives for a the clash between the so called ‘popular will’ and the status quo. This represents a real contemporary challenge as recently observed in Iceland (where the attempt of a total replacement did not succeed) or Chile (where a constitutional convention is working at the time of writing). Given the relevance of the topic, the third episode of Constitutions for Democracy is devoted to explore why is it so difficult to change constitutions in democratic settings? With Gabriel Negretto is Professor of political science at the Catholic University of Chile. He holds a Law degree from the University of Buenos Aires, and both a Master of International Affairs with specialization in Latin American Studies and a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University Jane Suiter is Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University. She is the senior Research Fellow on the Irish Citizens' Assembly on gender equality and is co-PI on the Irish Citizen Assembly (2016-2018) and the Irish Constitutional Convention (2012-2014) and a founder member of We the Citizens (2011), Ireland’s first deliberative experiment. Yanina Welp is Research Fellow at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy. She is also editorial coordinator at Agenda Pública and founder member of Red de Politólogas. Her main areas of study are the introduction and practices of mechanisms of direct and participatory democracy, and digital media and politics, i.e. ‘democratic innovations’.

Episode Description

The elaboration of new constitutions in stable and consolidated democracies is uncommon. Quite often, constitutions in force either do not regulate their replacement or put in place obstacles that make change very difficult. These difficulties in times of crises of legitimacy provide incentives for a the clash between the so called ‘popular will’ and the status quo. This represents a real contemporary challenge as recently observed in Iceland (where the attempt of a total replacement did not succeed) or Chile (where a constitutional convention is working at the time of writing). Given the relevance of the topic, the third episode of Constitutions for Democracy is devoted to explore why is it so difficult to change constitutions in democratic settings?
With Gabriel Negretto is Professor of political science at the Catholic University of Chile. He holds a Law degree from the University of Buenos Aires, and both a Master of International Affairs with specialization in Latin American Studies and a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University Jane Suiter is Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University. She is the senior Research Fellow on the Irish Citizens' Assembly on gender equality and is co-PI on the Irish Citizen Assembly (2016-2018) and the Irish Constitutional Convention (2012-2014) and a founder member of We the Citizens (2011), Ireland’s first deliberative experiment. Yanina Welp is Research Fellow at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy. She is also editorial coordinator at Agenda Pública and founder member of Red de Politólogas. Her main areas of study are the introduction and practices of mechanisms of direct and participatory democracy, and digital media and politics, i.e. ‘democratic innovations’.