Constitutional Policy and Change in Europe

Abstract

Abstract During recent years, constitutional issues have claimed increasing attention in many European countries. The social and political transformations in Central and Eastern Europe have thrust constitutional debates to the fore. This book looks at the needs and claims of constitutional adaption and reconstruction in contemporary Europe. The range and complexity of the constitutional challenge in Europe, which differs markedly form one country to another, is fully explored. The contributions to this book illustrate certain aspects of this challenge as it is perceived in various European countries and of the different responses to it. The problems discussed are approached from the constitutional legal aspects, in others from those of political science. The different tasks facing Western, and East and Central Europe are considered in some detail. In Western Europe, constitutional debate has assumed greater prominence on account of closer economic and political integration within the European Community and internal changes within particular countries. In the East, far-reaching constitutional reconstruction has been an imperative, a task which has had to be tackled in the difficult and uncertain conditions of radical, social and economic transformation. The book also address some of the issues of political theory presented by the notion of liberal constitutionalism itself and throws light on the direction of future change.