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"The first claim in this book is that the development of constitutional law has a dialectical relation to imperialism, and to military forces that accompany imperialism. From their first emergence, constitutions formed components in lines of state building connected to inter-imperial rivalry, and they reflected the interlinking of states in a transnational military system. In this process, Imperialism shaped the development of constitutions in different ways. Many states acquired constitutions as they were separated from existing empires, so that national self-determination became the wellspring of constitutional law"--
List of contents
1. Imperialism and the origins of constitutions; 2. Constitutions and the persistence of empires; 3. Imperialism and global civil war; 4. Imperial nations in the Iberian region; 5. Military constitutions in and after the Ottoman empire; 6. World law and occupation constitutions; 7. The occupation constitution II: changing security constitutions; 8. The occupation constitution III: constitutions without war; 9. Constitutions after war; 10. New security constitutions.
About the author
Chris Thornhill is Professor of Law at the University of Birmingham. He has held Professorships in Politics, Sociology and Law in Glasgow, Manchester and Bielefeld. He has received prizes for research in law and society from the Humboldt Foundation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie, and the World Complexity Science Academy. This is his third book in Cambridge Studies in Law and Society, following A Sociology of Constitutions (2011) and A Sociology of Transnational Constitutions (2016).
Summary
This book explains how democratic constitutions were created by imperialism. It uses a global-sociological method to show how imperialist patterns of violence persistently affected the development of constitutional democracies, challenging standard views concerning the relationship between democracy, war, and peace.
Foreword
This book explains how democratic constitutions were created by imperialism and how they have been detached from their military origins.
