Democratic Consolidation and Constitutional Endurance in Asia and Africa: Comparing Uneven Pathways

What factors drive constitutional change and sustain positive transformation? How are democratic values recognised, restored, and preserved through constitutional change? Democratic Consolidation and Constitutional Endurance in Asia and Africa is a well-articulated response to the growing scholarly conversation on democratic backsliding and resilience.

Bringing together leading and emerging voices in constitutional law, this groundbreaking new collection considers recent democratising events in Ethiopia, The Gambia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Across seven thematic chapters and seven case studies, the volume provides analytical insight into central topics arising from these events, including the role of political parties which depart from ’Western’ frameworks; the often-marginalised place of courts; the centrality of civil-military relations; the explanatory power of constitutional culture; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Offering a decolonising approach to constitutional law and democratisation studies, this book will be of keen interest to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers alike. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the relationship between democratic decay and institutional endurance, and how such a relationship plays out in conditions of ongoing constitutional development.

Tom Gerald Daly, Deputy Director and Director, School of Government at the University of Melbourne and the DEM-DEC (Democratic Decay & Renewal)

Tom Gerald Daly is Deputy Director of the Melbourne School of Government, Director of the online knowledge platform Democratic Decay & Renewal (DEM-DEC; democratic-decay.org), and Convenor of the Constitution Transformation Network (CTN). His comparative research focuses on global democratic decay and renewal, the contingent democratic legitimacy of judicial review, constitutional design, and constitutional repair. Beyond extensive experience at Melbourne, Edinburgh, and Copenhagen universities, his consultancy work includes designing a pan-continental African Judicial Network for the African Union and leading or working on constitutional-legal reform projects in states and territories including Lebanon, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and the Pacific.

Dr Dinesha Samararatne is Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is a Convenor of the Constitution Transformation Network (CTN) at Melbourne Law School and an Articles Editor for the Indian Law Review. Dinesha’s research interests include constitutional law, administrative law, and human rights law from a Global South perspective, including fourth branch institutions, constitutional resilience, public participation in constitution-making, and judicial interpretation of fundamental rights. She has published with the Asian Journal of Law and Society, World Comparative Law, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and Asian Journal of Comparative Law.