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Eternity clauses in post-conflict and post-authoritarian constitution-making: Promise and limits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2017

SILVIA SUTEU*
Affiliation:
University College London, Faculty of Laws, Bidborough House, 38–50 Bidborough Street, LondonWC1H 9BT

Abstract:

The literature on entrenchment as a means to achieve constitutional endurance has grown in recent years, as has the scholarship on unamendable provisions as a mechanism intended to safeguard the constitutional project. However, little attention has been paid to the promise and limits of eternity clauses in transitional settings. Their appeal in this context is great. In an effort to safeguard hard-fought agreements, drafters often declare unamendable what they consider the fundamentals to the political deal: the number of presidential term limits, the commitment to human rights and to democracy, the form of the state (whether republican or monarchical), the territorial integrity of the state, the territorial division of power, secularism or the official religion. This article explores the distinctive role and problems posed by eternity clauses in transitional constitution-building, as guarantees of the pre-constitutional political settlement in such fragile periods. The article also compares unamendability to other techniques of constitution-making in uncertain times, such as sunset clauses, deferring hard choices and other forms of constitutional incrementalism.

Type
Special Issue: Constitution-making and political settlements in times of transition
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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111 The prohibition on re-election is compounded by additional constitutional provisions which attach severe penalties to its breach or attempted breach (see arts 239 and 42).

112 Albert, ‘Constitutional Handcuffs’ (n 3) 692. He states: ‘It was none other than this constitutional clause that pit the leading popular democratic institution in Honduras—the presidency—versus the other national democratic institutions, namely the legislature, courts, and leading independent bodies.’

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117 Comisión de la Verdad y la Reconciliación (CVR), ‘Hallazgos y recomendaciones Para que los hechos no se repitan’, July 2011, <https:www.oas.org/es/sap/docs/DSDME/2011/CVR/Honduras%20-%20Informe%20CVR%20-%20RECOMENDACIONES.pdf>.

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121 ‘Rwanda Court Backs Scrapping Presidential Term Limits’, BBC News, 8 October 2015, available at <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-34477023>.

122 See also AT Hengari, ‘Presidential Term Limits: A New African Foreign Policy Challenge’, Policy Briefing 138, Foreign Policy Programme, June 2015, available at <http://www.saiia.org.za/policy-briefings/presidential-term-limits-a-new-african-foreign-policy-challenge>.

123 On the first instance of constitutionalisation of amnesties, in South Africa, see DR Mekonnen and SM Weldehaimanot, ‘Transitional Constitutionalism: Comparing the Eritrean and South African Experience’, Paper presented at ANCL-RADC Annual Conference on ‘The Internationalisation of Constitutional Law’, Rabat, Morocco, 2–5 February 2011 at 10.

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128 Azanian Peoples Organization (AZAPO) and Others v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others 1996 (4) SA 672 (CC), 25 July 1996.

129 Ibid, para 21.

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134 For the full list of constitutional principles which guided the South African constitution-making process, see (Interim) Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 200 of 1993, Sched 4.

135 However, it has been argued that the temporary nature of the German Basic Law was meant in a geographic sense and did not refer to its substantive commitments: ‘[t]he Basic Law in general and especially the decision to institute democracy as well as for the rule of law was … definite’. Heun, W, The Constitution of Germany: A Contextual Analysis (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2011) 10Google Scholar. See also Benda, E, ‘The Protection of Human Dignity (Article 1 of the Basic Law)’ in Fifty Years of German Basic Law: The New Departure for Germany, Conference Report (American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, 1999) 36.Google Scholar

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138 ‘Tunisian Constituent Assembly Adopts Provisional Constitution’, ConstitutionNet.org, 12 December 2011, available at <http://www.constitutionnet.org/news/tunisian-constituent-assembly-adopts-provisional-constitution>; and Carter Center Report (n 23) 56.

139 Zulueta-Fülscher (n 131) 18.

140 For a detailed account of the use of sunset clauses in legislation, see Ranchordas, S, Constitutional Sunsets and Experimental Legislation: A Comparative Perspective (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2015).Google Scholar

141 See Suber, P, Paradox of Self-Amendment (Peter Lang Publishing, Bern, 1990) section 14, ‘Amendment by Sunset Clause’.Google Scholar

142 See Elkins, Z, Ginsburg, T and Melton, J, The Endurance of National Constitutions (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009) 13;Google Scholar and Schwartzberg (n 58) 11–12.

143 Schwartzberg (n 58) 12.

144 Widner (n 12) 1534.

145 Art 147 of the Draft Constitution of the Republic of Tunisia, 14 December 2012.

146 Elkins, Ginsburg and Melton (n 142) 13.

147 Dixon, R and Ginsburg, T, ‘Deciding Not to Decide: Deferral in Constitutional Design’ (2011) 9(3–4) Journal of International Constitutional Law 645.Google Scholar

148 On incrementalism as a useful mechanism of constitutional design in divided societies, see Lerner, H, Making Constitutions in Deeply Divided Societies (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011)Google Scholar. See also Tushnet, M, ‘Constitution-Making: An Introduction’ (2013) 91 Texas Law Review 2007–12.Google Scholar

149 Lerner (n 148) 149 and generally 109–51.

150 Ibid 149.

151 Erk, C and Gagnon, AG, ‘Constitutional Ambiguity and Federal Trust: Codification of Federalism in Canada, Spain and Belgium’ (2000) 10(1) Regional & Federal Studies 92.Google Scholar

152 Bousbih and Yaalaoui (n 70) 17, 19.

153 Foley, M, The Silence of Constitutions: Gaps, ‘Abeyances’ and Political Temperament in the Maintenance of Government (Routledge, Abingdon, 2011 [1989]).Google Scholar

154 Ibid 8–9.

155 V Jackson, ICON-Society Annual Conference, New York, 1 July 2015.

156 J Di John and J Putzel, ‘Political Settlements’, Issues Paper, (Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, University of Birmingham, June 2009) 4, available at <http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/103642.pdf>.

157 Volpi and Stein (n 38) 280, 289.

158 McCormick-Cavanagh, C, ‘Tunisia MPs Resign to Stop Creation of “Dynastic Legacy” by Country’s President’, The Middle East Eye, 9 November 2015, available at: <http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-mp-says-mass-resignations-aimed-stopping-dynastic-legacy-countrys-president-2059371519/>>Google Scholar.