Title PhD
Democratic constitutionalism in a federal state: comparative lessons for the procedure to revise the Belgian Constitution.
Research field
Public Law - constitutional law
Introduction
This PhD looks into article 195 of the Belgian Constitution, which sets out the procedure to modify the Constitution, and studies if and how this article should be updated to fit the current legal and societal context.
Abstract
The procedure to revise the Belgian Constitution has remained unchanged since it was drafted in 1831 and is notoriously stringent. This was done to safeguard the existence of the Nation and ensure a stable constitutional framework and human rights catalogue. Through the automatic organization of elections, the democratic legitimacy of possible modifications ws assured. Over time, a majority of legal scholars have deemed the procedure to overly strict. However, the initial objectives of the current procedure remain relevant and cannot be forgotten. Aside of its stringency, the lack of effective participation of the federated entities in this procedure and the civic involvement through elections, which has been rendered meaningless, are similarly problematic.
Other states, such as Canada and Ireland, have set up structures to ensure the active participation of its federated entities and citizens. These international comparisons can serve as examples to ameliorate the Belgian process. This leads to the following central research question: "How should the procedure to revise the Constitution be modified so that it is democratically acceptable, given the federal nature of the state in question?"
By means of a descriptive, evaluative and comparative analysis of (inter)national literature, this study sets out an alternative constitutional amendment procedure and as such aims to resolve the cited issues, also considering a possible Seventh State Reform.