Crises, Emergencies and Constitutional Change

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This chapter revolves around the interplay between three umbrella concepts, covering a wide variety of situations: crises, emergency regimes, and constitutional change. A comparative, diachronic analysis of this interaction shows that major crises are intimately related to the issue of constitutional stability and endurance: in a nutshell, they menace the stability of a constitutional order. On the other hand, institutionalised emergency regimes may also trigger far-reaching constitutional change. The chapter argues that flexibility and elasticity are needed in order to preserve the core of the constitutional order from the challenge of major crises.