Over 200 constitutions have been counted across the world . At least 168 of these documents invoke the concept of “dignity”, 198 refer to “freedom” of some sort, 127 make reference to “democracy.” While so many constitutions read and sound similar, the nations they build differ in significant ways. Why? Moreover, how do we develop rigorous understandings of constitutional systems, beyond the superficial similarities of shared terms?
Delicious differences between different constitutional systems remain hidden in differences between the scope and meaning of seemingly familiar legal and philosophical terms across different systems. What does “dignity” truly mean in Germany and how does “German” dignity differ from the dignity afforded in the preamble of the Indian Constitution? While the words of a constitution usually have fixed meanings within a given constitutional system, the meaning of legal concepts differ in ways that legal scholarship alone cannot capture.
These differences requires trans-disciplinary understandings that encompass law, history, philosophy, politics, art, and culture.
Informed Citizens. Accountable Power. 