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A Commentary on the Egyptian Constitutional Declaration Dated 17 June 2012

By Zaid Al-Ali, Christopher Roberts, Amos Toh

This is a commentray on the Egyptian Constitutional Declaration Dated 17 June 2012, written by ...

An Analysis: 2013 Fiji Government Draft Constitution

By Citizens' Constitutional Forum

Citizens' Constitutional Forum (CCF) analysis of Fiji's government's constitutional draft (GDC). The CCF finds several ...

An Analysis: 2013 Fiji Government Draft Constitution

By The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum

The Citizens’ Constitutional Forum analysis of the various sections of Fiji's 2013 Draft Constitution. ...

An Assessment of the Chilean Constituent Process

By Claudia Heiss Bendersky, Ernesto Riffo Elgueta, Jorge Contesse and Cristián Sanhueza

The Observatory of the Chilean Constituent Process is project of the RED Foundation: Network of ...

Análisis comparativo de la Constitución de Chile y Dos Proyectos de Reforma Constitucional

Este informe resume las diferencias entre la Constitución Política de Chile de 1980 (con sus ...

Analysis of the Draft Constitution of Libya - Thematic Committees of the Constitution Drafting Assembly Status: December 2014

By Dr Jorg Fedtke

This analysis provides a response to selected draft provisions for a new Libyan constitution published ...

Analysis of the Report produced in July 2019 by Myanmar’s Joint Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Amendment

International IDEA's Analysis of the Report of the Joint Committee to Amend the Republic of ...

Analytic Study: The 2012 Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt: Assessing Horizontal Power Sharing Within a Semi-presidential Framework

By Sujit Choudhry, Richard Stacey

This analytic study has been issued by the DRI and International IDEA and written in ...

Annual Review of Constitution Building: 2019

International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, the ...

Annual Review of Constitution Building: 2024

By Adem Kassie Abebe, Sumit Bisarya, W. Elliot Bulmer, Sharon Pia Hickey, Satang Nabaneh, Alexandra Oancea, William Underwood, Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher

International IDEA's Annual Review of Constitution-Building 2024 provides a comprehensive look at global constitutional shifts, ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2015

By Sumit Bisarya, Melissa Crouch, Katalin Dobias, Anna Dziedzic, Tom Ginsburg Ken Opalo, William Partlett, Cheryl Saunders

Each year, International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes provides a retrospective of constitutional transitions ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2016

By Lead authors: Adem Kassie Abebe Sumit Bisarya Markus Böckenförde W. Elliot Bulmer Tom Gerald Daly Ellen Hubbard Michael Meyer-Resende Yuhniwo Ngenge

Each year, compiling the International IDEA Annual Review of ConstitutionBuilding Processes provides a reminder of ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2017

By Adem K. Abebe, Sumit Bisarya, W. Elliot Bulmer, Amanda Cats-Baril, Erin Houlihan, Lea Mano and Asanga Welikala

International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2018

By Adem Abebe, Amanda Cats-Baril, Dian Shah, Elliot Bulmer, Erin Houlihan, and Roberto Gargarella

Drawing upon International IDEA’s in-house expertise as well as our network of academics and practitioners ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building: 2020

By Adem Abebe, Anna Dziedzic, Asanga Welikala, Erin C. Houlihan, Joelle Grogan, Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher, Thibaut Noël and Zaid Al-Ali

International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building Processes: 2020 provides a retrospective account of constitutional reform processes ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building: 2021

By Adem K. Abebe, Sumit Bisarya, W. Elliot Bulmer, Brooke Davies, Sharon P. Hickey, Thibaut Noël, Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher

International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building series provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building: 2022

By Adem K. Abebe, Sumit Bisarya, W. Elliot Bulmer, Sharon Pia Hickey, Alexander Hudson, Thibaut Noël, Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher

International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building series provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, ...

Annual Review of Constitution-Building: 2023

By Adem Kassie Abebe, Sumit Bisarya, W. Elliot Bulmer, Sharon Pia Hickey, Juliane Müller and Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher

International IDEA's Annual Review of Constitution-Building 2023 provides a look back on global constitutional shifts, ...

Assessing the Iraqi Constitution’s Impact on State and Society

By Adnan Abdel Hussein, Adnan Ajel Al-Marjanee, Adnan Sabih Al-Rubaiee, Arwaa Fakhri al-Bayati Firas Tarek Makiyya, Musadaq Adil Talib Al-Sariwi

In 2016, International IDEA worked with leading experts in constitutional law to develop a new ...

Bolivia: Miradas. Nuevo Texto Constitucional, International IDEA - 2010

This publication offers analysis on the 2009 constitution of Bolivia to guide further reflection and ...

Cape Town principles on the role of independent commissions in the selection and appointment of judges

By University of Cape Town and Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law

Building on international and comparative expereince, the Cape Town Principles aim to provide practical guidance to ...

Comentarios a la propuesta constitucional aprobada por la Asamblea Constituyente boliviana, International IDEA - 2008

This publication by International IDEA is an in-depth analysis of the Bolivian constitutional project of ...

Comparing three Constitutions (and Reeves’ recommendations)

This is a document comparing Fiji's three constitutions and the recommendations of the Reeves Commissions. ...

Constitution-Building and Disruption: Addressing Changing Conflict Patterns

By Christine Bell, Rhys Ainsworth

The theme for the 2021 Edinburgh Dialogue was ‘The Changing International Order and Its Impact ...

Constitution-Building in Deeply Fragmented States: The Role of Local Governance

By Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher and Christina Murray

This discussion paper explores the complex realities of substate governance in fragmented, conflict-affected states, where ...

Constitution-building in states with territorially based societal conflict

By International IDEA; Constitution Transformation Network

The inaugural Melbourne Forum brought together leading academics and practitioners from across Asia and the ...

Constitution-building processes in Latin America from 1978-2012

By Gabriel Negretto (lead author), Javier Couso (contributor)

This report seeks to describe and analyse key features of constitution-building and reform processes in ...

Constitutional Amendment Bills in Myanamar, 27 January 2020: International IDEA Interim Report

By International IDEA

This report examines two constitutional amendment bills in Myanmar, which were submitted to parliament, on ...

Constitutional Change in the Commonwealth Caribbean

By W. Elliot Bulmer

The Commonwealth Caribbean is experiencing a new wave of constitutional change, with constitutional review and ...

Constitutional Options for Syria_Arabic

Constitutional options for Syria (Arabic) ...

Constitutional Performance Assessment of the 1987 Philippine Constitution

By International IDEA

Since President Duterte was elected in 2016 on a promise of constitutional change for the ...

Constitutional Transitions and Territorial Cleavages

By George Anderson, Sujit Choudhry

ِAvailable also in Arabic Increasingly, an important—even central—issue in constitutional transitions is dealing with the diversity ...

Constitutional Transitions and Territorial Cleavages: The Kenyan Case: Number 32

By Jill Cottrell Ghai, Yash Ghai

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Constitutions and International Law

By Cheryl Saunders

This Constitution Brief was written initially for use in Myanmar, and it explains the nature ...

Convince, Coerce, or Compromise? Ennahda’s Approach to Tunisia’s Constitution

By Monica L. Marks

After two years and four drafts, Tunisia’s new constitution was finally approved on January 26, ...

Courts in Federal Countries: Constitution Brief

By Cheryl Saunders

While there are general principles that apply to the judiciary in all federations, there are ...

Cultura de la Constitución en Costa Rica. Una encuesta nacional de actitudes, percepciones y valores, International IDEA - 2009

By Luis Alberto Cordero, Rubén Hernández Valle, Carla Morales, Daniel Zovatto

This book was issued by International IDEA in 2009, analyzes Costa Ricans’ attitudes and perceptions ...

Dealing with Territorial Cleavages in Constitutional Transitions Iraq Number 30

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Designing Resilient Institutions: Countering Democratic Backsliding in Asia

By Tom Gerald Daly

This regional report on Asia applies the globally informed framework developed in International IDEA’s 2023 ...

Designing Resistance: Democratic Institutions and the Threat of Backsliding

By Sumit Bisarya and Madeleine Rogers

Democratic backsliding has been driven in large part by elected governments who have purposefully attacked ...

Egypt: A Constitutional Court in an Unconstitutional Setting, Nathan Brown

By Nathan Brown

This paper is Nathan Brown colloquium: "Egypt: A Constitutional Court in an Unconstitutional Setting" on 23 Oct ...

Electoral system design in the context of constitution-building

By Andrew Ellis

Electoral system design plays a crucial role in political settlement processes. However, it is a world ...

Emergence and Transformation of Territorially Based Cleavages and Constitutional Responses in Ethiopia. Number 28

By Assefa Fiseha

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Emergency Law Responses to Covid-19 and the Impact on Peace and Transition Processes

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020. ...

Executive Types: Graphic Illustration

By International IDEA

Download high resolution map Download image Executive Type: Explanation Presidential: Head of state/government ('president') is popularly elected* for fixed ...

Fiji: An Analysis: 2013 Government Constitution

By Citizens’ Constitutional Forum

This is an analysis issued by the Fiji Citizen's Constittional Forum (CCF) about the Fiji ...

Fiji: The Government Draft Constitution - What you need to know

This booklet contains a comparative analysis of the Fiji Government Draft Constitu-tion (GDC) 2013, with ...

Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: Constitutional Jurisprudence

By UN Women The Just Governance Group

This exploratory study of constitutional jurisprudence on gender equality and women’s empowerment reveals a series ...

Godot Has Arrived-Federal Restructuring in Nepal: Number 33

By Mara Malagodi

This Occasional Paper analyses the process and modalities that led to the federalisation of Nepal’s ...

Head of State selection process: Graphic Illustration

By International IDEA

Download high resolution map Download image Head of State Selection process: Explanation Hereditary or election by hereditary state rulers: ...

How Constitution-making Fails and What We Can Learn from It

By Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher

Constitution-making is often integral to achieving a new political settlement after conflict and in fragile ...

Indonesia: ‘Special autonomy’ for Aceh and Papua: Number 31

By Jacques Bertrand

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Interactions between Elections and Constitution-Building Processes in Fragile and Conflict-affected States

By William Underwood, Sumit Bisarya and Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher

Electoral and constitution building processes interact in a variety of ways. To understand these complex ...

Iraq: Comments on Constitutional Amendments - 2009

By Institute for International Law & Human Rights (IILHR)

This document prepared by the Institute for International Law & Human Rights, provides commentary and ...

Libya’s final draft constitution: A contextual analysis

Arabic version available here. On 29 July 2017, Libya’s Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) formally adopted a draft ...

Mechanisms for Indigenous Representation, Participation and Consultation in Constitutional Systems: International Examples to Inspire Chile

By Shireen Morris

Indigenous peoples in Chile have suffered dispossession and discrimination by colonizing forces, like many Indigenous ...

Myanmar’s Environment and Climate Change Challenges

By Sharon P. Hickey, Elodie Maria-Sube

Myanmar is rich in natural resources and a global biodiversity hotspot. Myanmar is also one ...

Myanmar’s Federal Democracy Charter: Analysis and Prospects

By International IDEA

On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar military staged a coup and unconstitutionally declared a one-year ...

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Nigeria’s Permanent Constitutional Transition: Military Rule, Civilian Instability and ‘True Federalism’ in a Deeply Divided Society: Number 34

By Rotimi Suberu

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Options for Post-Conflict Constitutional Arrangements in Sudan

This discussion paper, Options for Post-Conflict Constitutional Arrangements in Sudan, was prepared and presented at a ...

Practical Considerations for Public Participation in Constitution-Building: What, When, How and Why?

By Erin C. Houlihan and Sumit Bisarya

Public participation has become a core element of modern constitution-building. Robust participation is credited with a ...

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Proposals for Constitutional Change in Myanmar from the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Amendment: International IDEA Interim Analysis

By International IDEA

On 29 January 2019 Myanmar’s Parliament voted to establish a committee to review the constitution ...

Protecting Ethnic Minorities within Minorities

By Sumit Bisarya

This Constitution Brief surveys current comparative constitutional practice for different mechanisms and approaches relating to ...

Reflections on referendums

By Stephen Tierney

The use of referendums in processes of constitutional formation and change has increased considerably across ...

Reglamentos de Órganos Constituyentes - Panorama Comparativo: Procesos Constitucionales Comparados

By Rafael Bruno Macía Briedis

In any constitutional reform process, one of the most crucial elements is the type of ...

Rule of Law and Constitution Building: The Role of Regional Organizations

By Raul Cordenillo, Kristen Sample (editors)

Regional organizations play an increasingly important role in strengthening and upholding the rule of law. ...

Second Chambers in Federal Systems

By Thibaut Noël

Federalism is a constitutional mechanism for dividing responsibilities between different levels of government in a ...

Self-Determination: Constitution Brief

By Amanda Cats-Baril

This Constitution Brief introduces the concept of self-determination and its evolution over time, and provides ...

Semi-presidentialism and inclusive governance in Ukraine: Reflections for constitutional reform

By Sujit Choudhry, Thomas Sedelius, Julia Kyrychenko

This report assesses the ways in which the semi-presidential form of government can be best ...

Should Ministers be Members of the Legislature?

By Elliot Bulmer

This Constitution Brief discusses the appointment of ministers in different systems of government. It focuses ...

Spain: Constitutional Transition through Gradual Accommodation of Territories: Number 37

By Luis Moreno César Colino Angustias Hombrado

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Sri Lanka's Failed Peace Process and the Continuing Challenge of Ethno-Territorial Cleavages: Number 38

By Asanga Welikala

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

States Reorganization and Accommodation of Ethno-Territorial Cleavages in India Occasional Paper Number 29

By Harihar Bhattacharyya

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Substate Constitutions in Fragile and Conflict-affected Settings: Policy paper

Substate constitutions are broadly understood as written legal instruments that limit and structure political power ...

Sudan's 2019 Constitutional Declaration: Its Impact on the Transition

By Brooke Davies

On 17 August 2019, four months after President Omar al-Bashir was ousted, the revolutionary protest ...

Territorial Cleavages and the Bolivian Constitutional Transition Number 25

By George Gray Molina, Gustavo Bonifaz Moreno

As part of a special project, Forum of Federations, Manuel Gimenez Abad, the Center for ...

Territory and Power in Constitutional Transitions

By George Anderson and Sujit Choudhry

This Policy Paper provides insights into how territorial claims relate to constitution- making processes and ...

The 2002-04 Annan Plan in Cyprus: An Attempted UN-Mediated Constitutional Transition. Number 27

By John McGarry, Neophytos Loizides

Forum of Federations International IDEA Fundacion Gimenez Abad and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

The Division of Powers in Federations

By Cheryl Saunders

A federation consists of at least two levels of government, each of which has a ...

The Fundamentals of a Constitution

This Constitution Brief provides basic information about the nature and functions of constitutions and is intended for ...

Other languages

The Fundamentals of Constitutional Courts

This Constitution Brief provides a basic guide to constitutional courts and the issues that they raise ...

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The Impact of Guiding Principles on Constitution Making

By Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher and Thibaut Noël

Constitution making during transitions often involves a delicate balance between political deals and entrenched interests. ...

The Importance of Constitutional Law for Belarusian Democracy: An Analysis of the Amended 1994 Constitution and Considerations for Democratic Reform

By William Partlett (Associate Professor, Melbourne Law School)

This interim report offers considerations on the possible direction and options for reform that democratic ...

Other languages

The Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan: Summary and Analysis

In October 2020, the Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan was signed by Sudan’s transitional government ...

The Philippines: Peace talks and autonomy in Mindanao: Number 35

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

The Possible Role and Risk of Power-Sharing in Sudan

By Andrew Ladley

This discussion paper was presented at a seminar organized by the Arab Association for Constitutional ...

The quest for a people driven constitution in Zambia: 2011-2015

By Grand Coalition on the Campaign for a People Driven Constitution in Zambia

The document details the constitution making process in Zambia and the role of the people ...

The Role of Constitution Building Processes in Democratization - “Who Should Harvest the Fruits of Victory? Constitution Building in Timor-Leste.”

By Randall Garrison

This case study report was written by Randall Garrison in 2005, published by International IDEA ...

The role of regional organizations in the protection of constitutionalism

By Micha Wiebusch

This Discussion Paper compares how three regional organizations—the African Union, the European Union and the ...

The Scope and the Content of the Sri Lankan Constitution: Perspectives of Opinion Leaders

The Scope and Content of the Sri Lankan Constitution: Perspectives of Opinion Leaders comprises a summary of ...

Other languages

The Withering Away of Politically Salient Territorial Cleavages in South Africa and the Emergence of Watermark Ethnic Federalism: Number 36

By Nico Steytler

Forum of Federations, Fundacion Gimenez Abad, International IDEA and The Center for Constitutional Transitions are ...

Time, Space and Information: Lessons Learned from the Abuse of Law to Attack Civic Space

By Madeleine Rogers

Governments around the world are increasingly using legal and institutional tools to silence critics and ...

To Codify or Not To Codify? Lessons from Consolidating the United Kingdom’s Constitutional Statutes

By - James Melton, Christine Stuart and Daniel Helen (UCL: The Constitution Unit)

• Only a few countries in the world lack a codified constitution. The UK is ...

Transitions to Parliamentary Systems: Lessons Learned from Practice

By Sumit Bisarya

Despite widespread claims that parliamentary systems with an indirectly elected president produce better outcomes for ...

Trinidad and Tobago: Changing Our Constitution

By Dr. Hamid Ghany

This study by Dr. Hamid Ghany is a Comparison of the Existing Constitution of Trinidad ...

Tunisia: Note on Freedom of Expression provisions in Latest Draft of the Constitution, The Centre for Law and Democracy - 2013

By Centre for Law and Democracy

This Note issued by the Centre for Law and Democracy provides comments on the latest ...

Unconstitutionality of the 2021 Military Coup in Myanmar

By Thibaut Noel

Since the coup conducted by the Myanmar military on 1 February 2021, the military regime ...

When the Total is less than the Sum of the Parts: The Lessons of Bosnia and Herzegovina Number 26

By Marie-Joëlle Zahar

As part of a special project, Forum of Federations, Manuel Gimenez Abad, the Center for ...

Women Constitution-Makers: Comparative Experiences with Representation, Participation and Influence

On 24–25 October 2019, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA)—together with ...

Yemen’s Independent Youth and Their Role in the National Dialogue Conference - Triggering a Change in Political Culture, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik - 2013

By Atiaf Zaid Alwazir

These comments was issued in August 2013 by the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP). The author, Atiaf ...

Yemen’s ‘Peaceful’ Transition from Autocracy: Could it have succeeded?

By Helen Lackner

Yemen’s so-called peaceful transition process, which began in 2011, was widely considered a success during ...

العراق: ملاحظات معهد القانون الدولي وحقوق الانسان حول التعديلات الدستورية

By معهد القانون الدولي وحقوق الانسان

تقدم هذه الوثيقة التعليق والتحليل على التعديلات التي أدخلت على الدستور العراقي والمعدة من قبل معهد ...

المسودة النهائية لدستور ليبيا دراسة عيانية

.English version available here في 29 تموز/يوليو 2017، اعتمدت الهيئة التأسيسية لصياغة مشروع الدستور الليبي رسمياً ...

تحليل مسودة الدستور الليبي - اللجان النوعية في الهيئة التاسيسية لصياغة الدستور - الوضع: كانون أول/ديسمبر 2014

By البروفيسور الدكتور يورغ فدتكة

متيسر باللغة الانكليزية أصدرت المؤسسة الدولية للديمقراطية والانتخابات تحليلا بتاريخ 31 آذار/مارس 2015، بعنوان: تحليل مسودة ...

تونس: المخالفات القانونية و الشرعية في مشروع 1\6\2013 للدستور

By عمر الشتوي

قال النائب ورئيس لجنة السلطتين التشريعية و التنفيذية عمر الشتوي أنه “هنالك العديد من المخالفات ...

دستور عام 2012 لجمهورية مصر العربية تقاسم السلطة الأفقي في الإطار شبه الرئاسي "دراسة تحليلية"

By سوجيت شودري ، ريتشارد ستايسي

صدر عن المؤسسة الدولية للديمقراطية والانتخابات وبالتعاون مع مركز التحولات الدستورية في كلية الحقوق بجامعة نيويورك ...

صياغة رؤ ية دستور ية جديدة للعراق

By International IDEA; Rewaq Baghdad Center

في عام 2022، أطلق مركز رواق بغداد للسياسات العامة والمؤسسة الدولية للديمقراطية والانتخابات مشروع لإثبات ...

فلسطين: التعديلات المقترحة على القانون الاساسي المعدل تعزز النظام الرئاسي وتقضي على المساءلة البرلمانية ، المركز الفلسطيني للبحوث السياسية والمسحية - 2005

By د. خليل الشقاقي ، جهاد حرب

عن المركز الفلسطيني للبحوث السياسية والمسحية صدر في العام 2005 هذا المقال التحليلي لكل من ...

قوـقحلا طـباوض تاـيرحلاو

By International IDEA

This paper analyses the limitation clause applicable to the human rights provisions of the Tunisian ...

لمحات إستراتيجية حول قانون المحكمة الاتحادية العليا العراقية

By Arab Association of Constitutional Law

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court was estasblished more than a decade ago, even before the 2005 ...

ﺃﻱ ﺃﺳﻠﻮﺏ ﺍﻋﺘﻤﺪﺗﻪ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﻀﺔ ﺃﺛﻨﺎء ﻋﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﺻﻴﺎﻏﺔ ﺍﻟﺪﺳﺘﻮﺭ التونسي: ﺍﻹﻗﻨﺎﻉ، ﺍﻹﻛﺮﺍﻩ، ﺃﻭ ﺗﻘﺪﻳﻢ ﺍﻟﺘﻨﺎﺯﻻﺕ؟

By ﻣﻮﻧﻴﻜﺎ ﻣﺎﺭﻛﺲ

بعد عامين وأربع مسودات، تمت أخيراً المصادقة على الدستور التونسي الجديد في 26 يناير 2014، ...