Introduction: The forms and limits of constitutional amendments

Abstract

There has been a recent explosion of academic commentary on the form and limits of constitutional amendments. This literature comes in various strands, some of which are driven by normative concerns about constitutional legitimacy, some of which focus on the effects of different types of amendment rules, and some of which examine the nature and legal status of the amending power. The articles contained in this symposium advance the state of knowledge on all those fronts. In this introduction, I provide a critical overview of these articles, placing special emphasis on the way they deal (or not) with the question of popular participation in constitutional change.