Constitutional Law and Regionalism

Vito Breda, Senior Lecturer in Law, School of Law and Justice, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

• Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Identity-Based Constitutional Claims: Negotiating with Regionalists 2. The UK: Identity-Based Constitutional Claims in a Parliamentarian System 3. Spain: Constitutional Negotiations and Ethnocentric Nationalisms 4. Italy: Constitutional Negotiations and Tolerance in a Patrimonial Political System 5. Canada: A Multinational Constitution and the Obligation to Negotiate 6. USA: Constitutional Negotiations and Peripheral Nationalism 7. New Zealand: The Westminster Model and Meso-Governance 8. Australia: the Recognition of Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders Bibliography Index

'Through a careful study of 7 cases, Breda shows how regions have been able to acquire powers of self-government through constitutional negotiations and the corresponding forms of democratic federalism these negotiations bring about in response. Required reading for anyone interested in democratic constitutional change in complex societies.'--James Tully, University of Victoria, Canada'This is a must-read book for everyone studying current federalist issues. Dr Breda perfoms a holistic analysis on the most representative federal models, guiding the reader through the key questions: why a society decides to organize itself in a federal way and which are the main challenges that the ''demos'' and the ''polity'' are really facing.'--Luis Gordillo, University of Deusto, Spain'Despite renewed interest among constitutional scholars in federalism and sub-state nationalism, the broader category of regionalism remains neglected. Vito Breda's book promises to fill this gap. It brings an insightful cross-disciplinary approach to many of the main case studies, and draws out comprehensively the range of institutional approaches which contemporary constitutionalism brings to the accommodation of regions.' --Stephen Tierney, University of Edinburgh, UK