Raeesa Vakil, Review of Philipp Dann and Arun K. Thiruvengadam (eds). Democratic Constitutionalism in India and the European Union: Comparing the Law of Democracy in Continental Polities

Abstract

Democratic Constitutionalism in India and the European Union: Comparing the Law of Democracy in Continental Polities is the culmination of an extended, deliberative project seven years in the making. The editors Philipp Dann and Arun K. Thiruvengadam gathered a group of scholars from the European Union and India in 2014 to examine, through workshops, conversations, and discussions, fundamental and conceptual points of convergence and difference between constitutional frameworks. The span of time covered by this project is fundamental to the aims of the book. In their introduction, Dann and Thiruvengadam establish a method they describe as “slow comparison,” characterized by “epistemological caution, a method of contextualized functionalism and an iterative process of collaboration” (at 5). Consequently, each of the nine chapters in the book presents, in turn, the European and Indian perspectives on both conceptual (equality, democracy, constitutionalism) and specific subjects (electoral systems, freedom of expression, social rights, political parties, and federalism).