Stability in Flexibility: A British Lens on Constitutional Success
Assessing Constitutional Performance (Thomas Ginsburg & Aziz Huq, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2016, Forthcoming)
23 Pages Posted: 3 May 2016 Last revised: 25 May 2016
Date Written: 2016
Abstract
This chapter challenges Ginsburg & Huq’s schema of constitutional success as presented in the book, Assessing Constitutional Performance. It argues that the unique constitutional dynamic in the United Kingdom - a co-existence of constitutional success and constitutional crisis - highlights a key variable omitted in their calculations: the effective management of constitutional change, or the balance between stability and flexibility in constitutional arrangements. The British experience suggests a contextualized assessment of that balance is a necessary element for establishing constitutional success from a functional perspective.
Keywords: constitutional change, British constitution, conventions, codification
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