Conclusion. A Country Studies-Based Deliberation on Constitutional Asymmetry in Multi-tiered Multinational Systems

Abstract

To examine the link between constitutional asymmetry and multinationalism, five hypotheses were designed to untangle the matter. This part of the edited volume is then reserved for the validation of hypotheses. The country reports make it clear that political asymmetries do not always generate constitutional asymmetries but even then, they may lead to constitutional asymmetries in fact. Some country reports point to national identity as a determining factor and some confirm the existence of other factors that reinforce national identity. The country reports reveal that this depends on the national context, namely: history and historical entitlement, international pressure, political regime, etc. Even though constitutional asymmetries are not entirely and exclusively linked to multinational systems, multinational systems are likely to allow a privileged status to diverse groups rather than territory-based entities. As the country reports reveal, the dynamics can go toward more symmetrization, asymmetrization, or even both implying the processes of upward and downward nivellation and courts as actors to encourage or discourage (a)symmetrization processes. Within the proposed framework, the EU found its place regardless of the fact that it displays integrative characteristics, since it possesses dynamics similar to the other systems in the volume.