Constitutional Process Research Articles

The Chilean Constitutional Convention: An Exercise for the Pluriverse

Abstract Neoliberal principles were codified in a constitution and implemented during a right-wing military dictatorship (1973–1990) in Chile producing important social inequalities, as well as cultural and ecological destruction. Resistance against the arrangements inherited from that period and deepened thereafter has been paramount to recent politics. In October 2019, considerable street protests were institutionally channeled into a constitutional process where a referendum was mandated to replace the dictatorship’s constitution. There were two attempts to write a new charter: one under a Constitutional Convention that took a decolonial character, and a second one dominated by a far-right council. Drawing on Loughlin’s “constitutional imagination,” the article poses that the Convention was a world-making exercise where social movements, independent candidates, Indigenous representatives, and their allies engaged in efforts for designing a pluriverse where many worlds could fit. I claim the Convention was a space where utopia and ideology met allowing for different worlds to work together for the first time in the political arena creating an incipient intercultural politics. As a text with world-making capacity, the draft from the Convention, although rejected in 2022, materializes a process from which stronger intersectional solidarity among feminist, Indigenous, and ecological movements should be forged.

A New Ecological Contract

A New Ecological Contract is a pedagogical framework for design studios that focus on sites of socioenvironmental conflict. Through ecocritical video game design, students engage with situated impacts of large-scale climate issues by working through images of environmental impact assessment reports and baseline studies as archives of landscape transformation. This framework pursued two objectives: first, to awaken a critical and spatial political imagination in the context of a four-year constitutional referendum process that challenged the basis of the Chilean economy and its relationship to the environment from which it derives its riches, and second, to present students with a case for using their representational abilities to engage with situated impacts of large scale climate issues by going through environmental impact assessment reports’ images and baselines studies approaching a design brief otherwise.

Hot Deformation Constitutive Analysis and Processing Maps of Ultrasonic Melt Treated A5052 Alloy.

Hot deformation constitutive analysis and processing maps of ultrasonic melt treated (UST) A5052 alloy were carried out based on a hot torsion test in this study. The addition of the Al-Ti master alloy as a grain refiner with no UST produced a finer grain size than the UST and pure Ti sonotrode. The Al3Ti phase particles in the case of the Al-10Ti master alloy acted as a nucleus for grain refinement, while the Ti atoms dissolved in the melt from the sonotrode were considered to have less of a grain refinement effect, even under UST conditions, than the Al3Ti phase particles in the Al-Ti master alloy. The constitutive equations for each experimental condition by torsion test were derived. In the processing maps examined in this study, the flow instability region was not present under UST in the as-cast condition, but it existed under the no UST condition. The effects of UST examined in this study are considered as (i) the uniform distribution of Ti solutes from the sonotrode and (ii) the reduction of pores by the degassing effect. After the homogenization heat treatment, most instability regions disappeared because the microstructures became uniform following the decomposition of intermetallic compounds and distribution of solute elements.

Investigation of the Hot Deformation Behavior of 22Cr‐25Ni Austenitic Heat‐Resistant Steel by Combining Constitutive Model and Processing Map

The hot deformation behavior of 22Cr‐25Ni austenitic heat‐resistant steel at the temperatures of 950–1150 °C and strain rates of 0.01–10 s−1 is studied by isothermal compression test. It is found that the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) degree of the steel increases with the increase of temperature. The DRX degree decreases with the increase of the strain rate from 0.01 to 1 s−1, whereas the DRX degree increases with the increase of the strain rate from 1 to 10 s−1. The hot deformation activation energy is as high as 624.25 kJ mol−1 due to the addition of a large number of alloying elements. The typical strain compensation Arrhenius constitutive model established can be used to roughly predict the hot flow behavior of the steel. Furthermore, a modified model considering the influence of strain rate and deformation heat on the deformation process is proposed and showed higher accuracy (statistical parameters r = 0.994 and average absolute relative error = 4.59%). The DRX zone of the steel is determined to be 1080–1150 °C/0.01–0.1 s−1 through processing map analysis, representing the appropriate hot working zone. The microstructure corresponding to the instability zone in the processing map exhibits deformation concentration bands or necklace structures.

Tax Treaty Implementation in the Maldives: A Double Standard in Practice

The article discusses the treaty-making and ratification process in the Maldives and how the government, in a treatment peculiar to bilateral tax treaties, sidesteps this constitutional due process and, consequently, international law. The article broadly questions the validity of these tax treaties in the Maldives and highlights the implications for taxpayers in obtaining treaty benefits. These discussions are contrasted with the treaties entered before and after the adoption of the present-day (2008) Constitution of the Maldives.

US Juvenile Justice Purpose Clauses: Themes and Evaluation Opportunities

Juvenile justice systems across the United States have a common history of rehabilitative ideals and federally required due process protections; however, each state maintains goals for its juvenile justice system specific to that state. The goals stated in the purpose clauses of the states’ juvenile justice codes offer an evaluative opportunity to determine whether the policies, programs, and practices within the juvenile justice system are congruent with the statutory goals. The qualitative thematic analysis of state purpose clauses presented in this study reveals goals beyond the traditional conceptualizations of a rehabilitative juvenile justice system and constitutional due process protections. The multiple, overlapping goals of each state’s juvenile justice system invites stakeholders to conduct evaluations to determine the alignment of each state’s goals with the structure of its juvenile justice system.

Critical analysis of the law-making paradigm of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation

The constitutional control of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is aimed, to a certain extent, at creating (temporary) legal norms. Law-making in itself is not the basis for the activity of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, however, at the same time it is hardly possible not to recognize the existence of a special function for the creation of law for the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. This function of constitutional justice is implemented in practice through the prism of constitutional control. At the same time, approaches to determining the powers and functions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on this issue differ significantly from each other. Based on this, the subject of the study is the decisions and legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which have an impact on the Russian legal order. The research methods used are logical, comparative legal, formal legal, hermeneutic and empirical methods of cognition. The discussion on the role and significance of the law-making function of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is far from over, and assessments of such activities of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation vary from radical to conservative. The author concludes that the law-making function of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is a secondary function of the Russian judicial review body, it is not the necessary role of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the processes of constitutionalization and, in particular, the creation of temporary legal norm by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation affect the Russian legal system.

Expression and Purification of Human U1-70K (snRNP70) and its BAD Domains Using an E. coli Expression System.

U1-70K (snRNP70) serves as an indispensable protein component within the U1 complex, assuming a pivotal role in both constitutive and alternative RNA splicing processes. Notably, U1-70K engages in interactions with SR proteins, instigating the assembly of the spliceosome. This protein undergoes regulation through phosphorylation at multiple sites. Of significant interest, U1-70K has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease, in which it tends to form detergent-insoluble aggregates. Even though it was identified more than three decades ago, our understanding of U1-70K remains notably constrained, primarily due to challenges such as low levels of recombinant expression, susceptibility to protein degradation, and insolubility. In endeavoring to address these limitations, we devised a multifaceted approach encompassing codon optimization, strategic purification, and a solubilization protocol. This methodology has enabled us to achieve a high yield of full-length, soluble U1-70K, paving the way for its comprehensive biophysical and biochemical characterization. Furthermore, we provide a detailed protocol for the preparation of phosphorylated U1-70K. This set of protocols promises to be a valuable resource for scientists exploring the intricate web of U1-70K-related mechanisms in the context of RNA splicing and its implications in neurodegenerative disorders and other disorders and biological processes. © 2024 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Expression and purification of full-length U1-70K from E. coli Support Protocol 1: Making chemically competent BL21 Star pRARE/pBB535 cells Basic Protocol 2: Phosphorylation of full-length U1-70K using SRPK1 Support Protocol 2: Purification of SRPK1 Basic Protocol 3: Expression and purification of U1-70K BAD1 from E. coli Basic Protocol 4: Phosphorylation of U1-70K BAD1 using SRPK1 Basic Protocol 5: Expression and purification of U1-70K BAD2 from E. coli.

Digitalization of Legal Transformation on Judicial Review in the Constitutional Court

Efficient, affordable, and uncomplicated justice poses a complex dilemma within the Indonesian judicial system. However, applying technological advancements to assessing legal regulations can resolve this issue. This research aims to examine the necessity and implementation of digitalization in the Constitutional Court's judicial review process. This research utilized a normative legal approach, characterized by its prescriptive and applied nature, to examine the development and implementation of digitalization in the justice systems of the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom through comparative studies. The research results show that: first, technology in the Constitutional Court's judicial review process can most effectively promote openness and clarity in the decision-making procedure. However, there remain several areas in which the Constitutional Court must further refine itself to attain digital status, as inconsistencies persist in its practical rulings. Consequently, the Constitutional Court must increase the rate of digital transformation in its judicial review operations. Second, numerous other nations, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have observed the implementation of technological advancements, leading to enhanced transparency and accessibility in their justice systems. Thirdly, to overcome the challenges above, we must apply the fundamental principles of good judicial governance, procedural law at the Constitutional Court, the paperless principle, and the contactless service principle when developing digital transformation for future judicial review at the Court. This will enable us to achieve transparency and accessibility in the Constitutional Court's judicial system.

Constitution Making and Enduring Challenges To Democracy in Turkey

AbstractSome observers expected that the 2023 general elections in Turkey would end the long rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while others anticipated his narrow victory. But it takes more than results at the ballot box for Turkish democracy to flourish in the medium term. Instead, we must focus on the underlying political structure, especially the constitution and its making. This study examines the social and political forces that have shaped Turkey's constitutions, from the Ottoman Empire through today. The analysis shows that top‐down constitutional processes only create advantages for the incumbent power, and they are symptomatic of weak democratic traditions. The most common use of constitutional revisions has been to serve the needs of the political elite at the time, without any long‐term objectives or broadly based political discourse among governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders. Therefore, Turkey has not been able to break the cycle of authoritarianism, even through seemingly democratic constitutional revisions. The study concludes that the future of the constitution is not bright. Given Erdoğan's narrow victory in the 2023 elections and setbacks in the recent municipal voting, revisions in the near term will seek to shore up the power of the ruling Justice and Development Party.

Constraining Constitution-Making

Whether constitution-making should be constrained has long been debated, but little is known about whether it is possible. We make several contributions to this question. We start by providing a typology of three types of constraints on constitution-making: Substantive, Procedural, and Institutional. We next develop a positive theory of when these constraints are likely to influence drafters’ behavior. We then use a mixed-methods approach to explore these ideas in the context of Chile’s constitutional reform process. In a survey experiment conducted in Chile before citizens voted on the draft constitution, we find that most respondents supported constraints in the abstract, but that they also supported a popular policy initiative—nationalizing mines—that violated these same constraints. This suggests that popular opinion may not enforce constraints on constitution-making. However, in fieldwork conducted in Chile, we found evidence that Chilean political parties did rein in constitution-makers who wanted to ignore constraints. This suggests that constitution-making constraints may be more likely to be effective when enforced by political parties.

The dilemma of constitutional mobilization: The housing and the environmental social movements at the Chilean Constitutional Convention

The dilemma of constitutional mobilization: The housing and the environmental social movements at the Chilean Constitutional Convention

Establishment and development of the legislation of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic

The article examines the historical and legal aspects of the formation and development of the legislation of the ZUNR, in particular, it is stated that the beginning of a new stage in the development of state-building processes in the western Ukrainian lands was their inclusion in the Austrian Empire at the end of the 18th century. It was found that during the First World War, political life in the western Ukrainian lands became more active in the context of imperial policy and the national movement aimed at the formation of a national state. It has been found that the intensification of legislative activity in the western Ukrainian lands is connected with the events of November 1, 1918, in particular with the declaration of an independent Ukrainian state in the western Ukrainian lands, with the center in Lviv. The Ukrainian National Council became the main political body responsible for the development of the national state in the western Ukrainian lands. On November 13, 1918, the UN Rada adopted the «Temporary Basic Law on the State Independence of the Ukrainian Lands of the Former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy», which completed the process of constitutionalization of the newly created state. Formation of legal norms that regulated the main spheres of social life. In addition, a number of legislative acts were developed and adopted, which were supposed to regulate a complex of issues related to economic relations, the financial sphere and property obligations, as well as certain aspects of civil and criminal law. It was established that the «Act of Detachment» between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic of Ukraine, adopted on January 22, 1919, was an important document, because it has significant legal, political and historical significance for the Ukrainian present, as it becomes a consolidating factor of public consciousness. The author of the article emphasizes that the characteristic features of national legislation in the Western Ukrainian People's Republic at the time were brevity and the introduction of a system of administrative responsibility for violations of legal norms, as well as the issuance of various by-laws in the form of orders.

Effects of Er addition on the hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of AZ31 alloy

AZ31 magnesium alloys typically have poor room temperature ductility after initial deformation. To address this disadvantage, rare earth element Er is introduced to regulate the structure, weaken texture, and promote non-basal slip to achieve plasticization. In this study, the deformation behavior and microstructure evolution during the hot compression process of Er added AZ31 alloy were systematically investigated. Hot compression stress-strain curves showed that the addition of Er reduced the deformation resistance. The constitutive equation and processing map were established. By combining the processing map with the microstructure analysis and texture evolution, an optimal processing area was determined to be 350–400 °C at a strain rate of 0.01 s−1. The influence of Er addition on the twinning behavior, recrystallization mechanism, and slip system of the AZ31 alloy were discussed. During the deformation process, the twinning behavior violates the maximum SF criterion, which is related to severe local stress. Continuous dynamic recrystallization, discontinuous dynamic recrystallization, and twinning induced recrystallization are all detected in the alloy. Through the in-grain misorientation axis and transmission electron microscopy, it can be confirmed that the addition of Er promoted the occurrence of pyramidal <c+a> slip. This is related to the modification of stacking fault energy by Er and the hindrance effect of the second phase containing Er on the basal dislocation.

Cytotoxic Effect of Amyloid-β1-42 Oligomers on Endoplasmic Reticulum and Golgi Apparatus Arrangement in SH-SY5Y Neuroblastoma Cells.

Amyloid-β oligomers are a cytotoxic structure that is key for the establishment of the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). These structures promote subcellular alterations that cause synaptic dysfunction, loss of cell communication, and even cell death, generating cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effects of amyloid-β1-42 oligomers (AβOs) on the membranous organelles involved in protein processing: the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus (GA). The results obtained with 10 μM AβOs in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells showed that oligomeric structures are more toxic than monomers because they cause cell viability to decrease as exposure time increases. Survivor cells were analyzed to further understand the toxic effects of AβOs on intracellular organelles. Survivor cells showed morphological alterations associated with abnormal cytoskeleton modification 72-96 h after exposure to AβOs. Moreover, the ER and GA presented rearrangement throughout the cytoplasmic space, which could be attributed to a lack of constitutive protein processing or to previous abnormal cytoskeleton modification. Interestingly, the disorganization of both ER and GA organelles exposed to AβOs is likely an early pathological alteration that could be related to aberrant protein processing and accumulation in AD.

Satisfaction with public goods provision and citizen preferences for institutional changes: Evidence from the dictatorship‐era constitution in Chile

AbstractWe argue that a deficient provision of public goods may influence citizen satisfaction with the status quo, thereby encouraging demands for institutional changes. We formalize and test this relationship using prior data related to the recent constitutional process carried out in Chile to replace its dictatorship‐era constitution. Individual‐level data from the Chile 2016/17 AmericasBarometer survey are used to estimate ordered and multinomial probit models to study the determinants of citizen preferences for constitutional change, distinguishing between amendment and replacement. The main findings reveal that preferences for reforming the Chilean constitution can be driven by greater discontent with public goods provision. These results remain robust when estimating pseudo‐panel models using cohort‐level data and examining coefficient stability. Moreover, higher levels of corruption are associated with a stronger demand for constitutional replacement, suggesting a potential rupture in the shared social contract due to poor governance and lower political equality.

Communism, Cold War, and the 1953 Coup

Even as it passed its seventieth anniversary, the 1953 coup in Iran has remained a hotly debated political topic. This is true in the public spheres of Iran, which saw its last democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, overthrown in the coup, and in those of the United States and the United Kingdom, which helped stage the ouster. There also has been an attempt at historical revisionism about the coup, usually by overemphasizing the domestic factors that led to the coup and placing less importance on the role of the CIA or questioning Mossadeq's democratic credentials. This revisionism has been robustly rebutted by the scholarly community, which has held to a general consensus on the basic narrative of the coup: that it overthrew a popular leader and that it took place with significant interventions from London and Washington. The release of the final batch of US documents related to the coup in 2017 (following many years of undue delay) also bolstered evidence for this consensus. But, although most public debates about the coup center on questions such as the constitutional process of Mosaddeq's dismissal or the relative weight given to domestic and international actors behind the coup, there is another historiographical question that has been subject to widely divergent perspectives in the field: the relationship of the coup to the Cold War. In other words, can the 1953 coup be considered a Cold War confrontation, or is this a misleading frame of reference? Both sides of this argument have often focused on the motivations of coup plotters (mostly those in Washington, DC, and London) and whether they are more readily explained by a genuine fear of the communist movement in Iran or whether this was a rhetorical smokescreen, masking the neocolonial drive for the control of Iran's resources. This tension is not limited to scholarship on Iran. Even as new global histories of the Cold War have grown in recent years, some have cautioned against the use of this framework for understanding politics in the Global South. Jeremi Suri, for instance, speaks of a “group of scholars” who have “questioned the very utility of the Cold War as an analytical concept” by pointing to “the ways in which this geopolitical term privileges state actors in the United States and Europe and neglects local forces of change, many of which had little apparent connection to the basic issues and personalities of the Cold War.” In his analysis of the global place of Algeria's drive for independence, Matthew Connelly suggests “taking off the Cold War lens,” arguing that such a lens did less to shape the views of historical actors (such as the Eisenhower administration) than “those of the historians who have studied them.”

Securing the peace or renegotiating the political settlement? Understanding popular support for post-conflict constitutions

ABSTRACT How do ordinary citizens view elite-driven, post-conflict constitutional reforms? Established theories emphasize the role of constitutional reform in both postwar democratization and preventing conflict resurgence. This article contends that emphasis on fostering political inclusion and settling conflicts resonates differently across post-conflict societies. Focusing on Nepal, this study draws on a survey implemented with over 1,000 respondents shortly after the ratification of the country’s constitution in 2015. The exploratory analysis shows that even when post-conflict constitutions grant greater rights to historically marginalized groups in absolute terms, they may still perceive that greater concessions would be possible; this makes such groups more likely to oppose the constitution and more likely to prefer extended negotiation periods. Conversely, Nepalis exposed to higher violence during the Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 view the constitution as the conclusion of the peace process and are more supportive of the constitution and opposed to longer negotiation periods. The analysis further highlights that some excluded groups were less likely to learn about constitutional negotiations at all. We identify new pathways influencing the democratic legitimacy of post-conflict constitutions, offering insights for internal and external stakeholders involved in constitutional reform processes and their aftermath.

Eco-centric Theory: Environmental Conscious Constitution

Many national constitutions incorporate elements of environmental constitutionalism, yet the absence of these provisions in some countries indicates suboptimal implementation. This normative juridical research investigated the key factors that influence a country's decision to embrace environmental constitutionalism based on historical case studies of countries that have amended their constitutions in this area, underscoring the contextual background as a pivotal influence on the constitutional amendment process. This environment inevitably shaped the amendment process, exposing it to a variety of influential factors. The research concluded by emphasizing critical strategies necessary for successful constitutional amendments, including aligning environmental protection with national values, leveraging crises, addressing economic factors thoroughly, and garnering the requisite political support from both the public and politicians.

Correlação entre teorias constitucionais e métodos de interpretação: a eutanásia como estudo de caso na Colômbia

Introduction: The text addresses the relationship between constitutional theories and methods of interpretation, using euthanasia in non-terminal illnesses in Colombia as a case study. Objective: Determine the relationship between constitutional theories and interpretation methods in the context of euthanasia, highlighting the change in Colombian jurisprudence in 2020. Reflection: The application of interpretation methods by the Constitutional Court in specific cases, such as Martha Liria, is evident. Sepúlveda and Víctor Julio Escobar, based on the analysis made in this regard from constitutional theories, such as the original, customary law, judicial activism and approaches of authors such as Dworkin, Alexy, Habermas and Nino. Which results in generating an impact on the fundamental guidelines and principles for constitutional interpretation, as well as different types of interpretation, such as authentic, doctrinal and judicial. Conclusion: The importance of having interpretation methods to guarantee rights in modernStates is highlighted, highlighting the complexity and dynamism of the constitutional interpretation process, making it pertinent to establish a more deep-rooted connection between constitutional theories and interpretation techniques in the context of euthanasiain Colombia, analyzing specific cases and providing data on its practice in the country.