On Gary Jacobsohn and Yaniv Roznai, Constitutional Revolution
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Keywords

Constitutional Revolution
Constitutional Change
Constitutional Amendment

Abstract

In constitutional democracies substantive constitutional change must be adopted through the proper procedures. The substance cannot be changed outside the constitutional procedure and must align with the constitutional rules. Substantive change and preset competence and procedure cannot be separated in this regard. The claim that Gary Jacobsohn and Yaniv Roznai make in their book Constitutional Revolution challenges this basic concept on empirical and normative grounds. I argue in this commentary that although this attempt to revise the classic standpoints is extremely inspiring, to contrast the normative requirements on constitutional change in a constitutional democracy with actual constitutional practice might serve as a good analytical framework to understand and evaluate constitutional revolution on a case by case basis.

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