The Role of Regional Organizations in the Protection of Constitutionalism
64 Pages Posted: 8 Nov 2018
Date Written: August 30, 2016
Abstract
This paper compares how three regional organizations—the African Union, the European Union and the Organization of American States—protect constitutionalism in their member states. It focuses on the types of measures to protect constitutionalism in cases of fundamental threats to and violations of the constitutional order, rather than on the mechanisms to promote constitutional governance. The paper argues that regional organizations should move beyond policies that target only the most blatant violations of the constitutional order, namely unconstitutional changes of government in the form of a classic coup d’état, and increase their focus on more nuanced interruptions of the constitutional order, such as constitutional crises engineered by leaders including the adoption of (un)constitutional measures to undermine the constitutional order or through a gradual process to erode the integrity of a constitutional regime. The paper analyses the law, policy and practice of these three organizations to outline policy-relevant conclusions, good practices and common limitations.
Keywords: African Union, European Union, Organization of American States, Constitutionalism, Democracy and Rule of Law Protection
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