Constitution Making After Conflict: Lessons for Iraq

This essay focuses on the process of creating a permanent constitution by drawing lessons from the experiences of 19 transitional countries, most of which emerged from armed conflict over the past three decades. The lessons, both positive and negative, come from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, East Timor, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe and span a period from 1975 to almost the present.