This book argues that only a regime that provides an outlet for constituent power to manifest from time to time can ever come to enjoy democratic legitimacy. In so doing, it advances a democratic constitutional theory, one that combines a strong or participatory conception of democracy with a weak form of constitutionalism. The author engages with Anglo-American constitutional theory as well as examining the theory and practise of constituent power in different constitutional regimes (including Latin American countries) where constituent power has become an important part of the left’s legal and political discourse. Weak Constitutionalism: Democratic Legitimacy and the Question of Constituent Power will be of particular interest to legal/political theorists and comparative constitutional lawyers. It also provides an introduction to the theory of constituent power and its relationship to constitutionalism and democracy.
Dr. Joel I. Colón-Ríos is a Lecturer in Law at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of Carl Schmitt and Constituent Power in Latin American Courts (Constellations) and The Counter Majoritarian Difficulty and the Road Not Taken: Democratizing Amendment Rules (Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence).