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

Electoral and constitution building processes interact in a variety of ways. To understand these complex interactions, on 4 and 5 December 2017, International IDEA—together with the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law, the Global Justice Academy and the Political Settlements Research Programme at the University of Edinburgh, hosted the fourth Edinburgh Dialogue on post-conflict constitution-building. The topic of this year’s  Edinburgh Dialogue was ‘The  Quest for Legitimate Stability: Understanding the Interactions between Elections and Constitutions in Fragile and Conflict-affected State Transitions’. This report summarizes the issues discussed during the Dialogue, including the interaction and sequencing of elections, interim constitutions, final and amended constitutions, and referendums.

The Edinburgh Dialogue is an annual event that brings together experts and practitioners from the fields of constitution-building, conflict resolution and mediation to advance research on a specific issue in post-conflict constitution-building.