Book launch: Rehan Abeyratne and Ngoc Son Bui eds., The Law and Politics of Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendments in Asia (Routledge 2021)

Book Launch

Friday 19th November 10-11am

Chair: Professor Nick Barber (Oxford)

Speakers: Rehan Abeyratne (CUHK) & Ngoc Son Bui (Oxford)

Discussants: Rosalind Dixon (UNSW), Tarun Khaitan (Oxford), Ewan Smith (Oxford)

To register to attend online, please follow this link: Webinar Registration - Zoom

Synopsis

The book explains how the idea and practice of UCA are shaped by, and inform, constitutional politics through various social and political actors, and in both formal and informal amendment processes, across Asia. 

This is the first book-length study of the law and politics of unconstitutional constitutional amendments in Asia. Comprising ten case studies from across the continent, and four broader, theoretical chapters, the volume provides an interdisciplinary, comparative perspective on the rising phenomenon of unconstitutional constitutional amendments (UCA) across a range of political, legal, and institutional contexts. The volume breaks new ground by venturing beyond the courts to consider UCA not only as a judicial doctrine, but also as a significant feature of political and intellectual discourse.

The book will be a valuable reference for law and political science researchers, as well as for policymakers and NGOs working in related fields. Offering broad coverage of jurisdictions in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia, it will be useful to scholars and practitioners within Asia as well as to those seeking to better understand the law and politics of the region.

Editors

Rehan Abeyratne is Associate Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Centre for Comparative and Transnational Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a co-editor of Towering Judges: A Comparative Study of Constitutional Judges (2021) as well as the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Asian Parliaments.

Ngoc Son Bui is Associate Professor of Asian Laws at the University of Oxford Faculty of Law. He is the author of Constitutional Change in the Contemporary Socialist World (2020) and Confucian Constitutionalism in East Asia (Routledge, 2016).