How Do Constitutions Present the People?

Professor Denis Galligan, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford

Modern constitutions are said to be a declaration of the people as to how they want to be governed, and what controls they wish to have over government. Contemporary constitutions, whether democratic, authoritarian, or hybrid, have very similar provisions regarding the people.

The aim of this seminar is to analyze those provisions and to offer an explanation. The analysis will take place within the framework of current debates about the political versus the juridical constitution.