This paper studies the factors driving changes in judicial independence (JI) as incorporated in constitutions. Two indicators of constitutionally safeguarded JI are constructed. Variations in these indicators are identified based on changes in the constitutions of as many as 100 countries that...

Constitutional pluralism divides opinion. What makes it attractive to some in a globally connected world also accounts for the scepticism of others. Its allure lies in its ambition to square two ideas – ‘constitutionalism’ and ‘pluralism’ - typically understood as incompatible....

Analysing the distribution of power among political actors is at the heart of political science. I propose a way of analysing changes to the institutional equilibrium of the EU institutions as well as changes in the relationship between the supranational level and the member states from a...

Constitutionalism beyond the state is a deeply contested project. The emergence of global governance and global laws that directly affect individuals and regulate the conduct of states toward their own citizens raise questions about the basic hierarchy of authority among states, regional bodies...

We study changes in the form of government as an example of endogenously determined constitutions. For a sample of 202 countries over the period 1950–2006, we find that most changes are relatively small and roughly equally likely to be either in the direction of more parliamentarian or more...

Le point de départ du présent essai est l’hypothèse selon laquelle les efforts entreprispour combler le déficit démocratique de l’Europe devront aussi affronter les problèmessociaux crées par le processus d’intégration. Cela constitue un sérieux défi, lequelcomporte de nouvelles...

European public policy has succeeded in its economic goals of integrating theinternal market and creating the monetary union. But it is now confronted with criticalchallenges which cannot be effectively resolved within the Union’s present governingmodes. While these governing modes differ from...

Le débat qui a agité la France au printemps 2005 a confirmé qu’en politique, les mots ont leurimportance. En qualifiant abusivement le nouveau traité de « constitution », c’est-à-dire en luiaccordant une valeur symbolique fortement supérieure à son contenu réel, les...

An impressive number of transnational committees populates theEU institutional system. Their statutes and internal regulations arealmost all unpublished, their composition and agendas are largelyunknown, their meetings inaccessible. Nevertheless, this almostimpenetrable «jungle» is actually...

Ethnically diverse societies have long faced the challenge of accommodating distinct and often conflictive normative orders within a single polity. Leaving the ideal of a single, ho-mogeneous legal order aside, many Latin American states have recently acknowledged the right of indigenous peoples...