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Constitutions as Intergenerational Contracts: Flexible or fixed?
[journal article]
Abstract Constitutions enshrine the fundamental values of a people and build a framework for a state's public policy. With regard to intergenerational justice, their endurance gives rise to two concerns: the (forgone) welfare concern and the sovereignty concern. In this paper, I outline a procedure for const... view more
Constitutions enshrine the fundamental values of a people and build a framework for a state's public policy. With regard to intergenerational justice, their endurance gives rise to two concerns: the (forgone) welfare concern and the sovereignty concern. In this paper, I outline a procedure for constitution-amending that is intergenerationally just. In its line of reasoning, the paper debates ideas such as perpetual constitutions, sunset constitutions, constitutional reform commissions and constitutional conventions both historically and analytically. It arrives at the conclusion that recurrent constitutional reform commissions in fixed time intervals strike the best balance between the necessary rigidity and the necessary flexibility of constitutions.... view less
Keywords
justice; Intergenerational relations; reform; inter-generational contract; constitutional amendment; constitution; constitutionalism
Classification
Political System, Constitution, Government
Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Political Science
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 4-17
Journal
Intergenerational Justice Review, 3 (2017) 1
Issue topic
Constitutions as Intergenerational Contracts: Flexible or fixed? (II)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.24357/igjr.10.1.581
ISSN
2190-6335
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed