Constitution Makers on Constitution Making:: The Experience of Eight Nations

Eighty new constitutions, more than half of the written national constitutions in effect, have been written and adopted just since 1974, an average of more than five a year. At a time when the United States is observing the 200th anniversary of its Constitution, the median age of all constitutions in the world is less than 15 years. Never before have so many living constitution makers, in so many different kinds of regimes, been still active and capable of telling the story, firsthand, of how their nation's constitution was made.

In eight pairs of papers, written from differing perspectives, this book tells the story of the writing of the constitutions of France, Greece, the United States, Yugoslavia, Spain, Egypt, Venezuela, and Nigeria. It also includes an analysis by constitutional experts from 20 countries of how to put into practice the principles of constitutionalism-political liberty, security of rights, and self-government.