This thematic area aims at deepening the understanding of the movement for the refoundation of the State and bottom up’s re-writing of constitutions. The former is being driven forward by identitary and social struggles in the global South around the democratisation and colonial and postcolonial liberation. Currently, constitutionalism as a formula for social ordering, rights distribution and organisation of the State’s power, has endured the effacing of political sovereignty and the ineffectiveness of citizenship. In face of the turbulence suffered by modern scales and values, national political communities have felt the mixed impact of transnational powers of political and economic actors and of the symbolic overloading of constitutional values. Both the legitimacy of, and the ability for, integration of the diverse sociabilities have been questioned. Many of the common denominators that have oriented States’ constituent process pronounced, under the affirmation of equality, the exclusion and invisibility of the difference of constituted peoples. Hence, the struggle for peoples´ liberty and self-determination presupposes the struggle for liberation from the traps of modern constitutions.
Below, some contributions to expand the discussion.
Video of the 2nd Conference of the round "Cidadania e Desenvolvimento: a governação e a organização do sistema de justiça" (Citizenship and Development: the governance and the organisation of the legal system). Title: O que seria uma revolução democrática da justiça? (What would a democratic revolution of justice look like?) by Boaven...
Lecture delivered at the Faculty of Economics - University of Coimbra, Portugal - April 19, 2013 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm. Video in Portuguese: ...
In this interview Cesar Rodriguez-Garavito reflects on action research in a context marked by the use of new technologies of communication and interaction. This development gives rise to benefits and risks of action research. Afterwards he revisits his recent work on comparative experiences of prior consultation on ...
Lecture in English delivered Friday 30 November 6-8pm: Leverhulme Lecture 6 (20th Anniversary event): "Occupy the Law: can law be emancipatory?" Venue: Room 541 in Malet Street, Birkbeck, London -UK. ...
