The curious case of constitution creation

EU Untangled

Description

From the new crowdsourced Icelandic constitution to the abandoned EU constitution

A constitution lays the foundations for how a society is organised and the fundamental principles that must underpin all laws and government decision-making. But how much do constitutions really impact our daily lives? Should they be updated to reflect rapid societal changes? How would you even go about making a new constitution in the first place? And whatever happened to the new Icelandic and EU constitutions? Tune in and listen to Vic, Alex, and Harpa ponder these questions with the help of Valgerður, PhD student at the University of Iceland, who is researching citizen participation in constitutional reform in Iceland over the past 10 years.

Links

Iceland

• The new Icelandic Constitution petition with over 43.000 signatures (a lot for tiny Iceland!)
• The Icelandic Constitution in English

Germany

• The Basic Law a.k.a. the German Constitution in English

Mexico

• The Mexican Constitution in English

The EU

• EU treaties Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
• About Europe Day and the Schuman Declaration
• “Ratification problems loom over Convention”, euobserver, 31 May 2003
• “EU scraps timetable for ratifying constitution”, The Guardian, 17 Jun 2005

Other

• The North Korean Constitution in English
• “15 of the hardest-to-pronounce names – and the right way to say them”, Stuff, 28 Mar 2019
• “Longest personal name”, Guiness World Records, 1 January 2021

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