Multi-Textual Constitutions of the World

Richard Albert is the William Stamps Farish Professor in Law, Professor of Government, and Director of Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

• Introduction: Are There Any Uni-Textual Constitutions in the World?, Richard Albert (The University of Texas, USA)1. Multi-Textual Constitutions in Japan: History, Functions, and Operation, Masahiko Kinoshita (Kobe University, Japan)2. Multi-Textuality and Incrementalism in Cameroon’s Democratic Transition, Laura-Stella Enonchong (University of London, UK)3. The Beauty and the Beast: The Excessive Multi-Textualism of the Austrian Constitution, Konrad Lachmayer (Sigmund Freud University, Austria)4. Canada’s Multi-Textual Constitution, Mary Liston (University of British Columbia, Canada)5. Multi-Textuality by Amendment: The Brazilian Case, Bruno Santos Cunha (Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil)6. Vertical and Horizontal Layers of the Lithuanian Constitution, Toma Birmontiene and Jolita Miliuviene (Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania)7. There and Back Again: The Case of Mexico’s Constitutional Forms Between Uni- and Multi-Textualism, Jaime Olaiz-González (Universidad Panamerica, Mexico)8. The Tradition of Multi-Textuality in Poland, Natalie Fox (Jagiellonian University, Poland)9. Exploring Macro-Constitutional Reality in Ukraine: Multi-Textual Insights from the Constitutional Court, Oleksandr Marusiak (National Academy of Law Sciences of Ukraine)10. Multi-Textuality in China: Revisions and Revolutions, Leigha Crout (Depaul University, USA)11. Multi-Textuality and the Question of Constitutional Authorship, Dolunay Bulut (University of Arizona, USA)12. The Taliban’s Multi-Textual Constitution: Cultivated Ambiguity as Authoritarian Technique, Amal Sethi (University of Leicester, UK)

Multi-Textual Constitutions of the World is a pioneering volume that debunks the common image of a uni-textual constitution. It provides rich empirical insights from twelve jurisdictions around the globe to reflect on the functions of and challenges in a multi-textual constitutional order. It reveals the complexity of multi-textuality as a constitutional form, and provides us with the resources to harness this form in constitutional design and practice, including in relation to the goals of constitutionalism, political legitimacy, and constitutional stability. It will be a key reference in the study of constitutional architecture.