Constitutionalism and the Politics of Accommodation in Multinational Democracies

Abstract

This collection presents a nuanced analysis of a wide variety of cases that cover the spectrum of constitutional strategies of accommodation used by multinational states such as Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Although constitutionalism has traditionally been the primary mechanism for facilitating the mutual accommodation of national diversity, there is a need to bridge comparative politics and comparative constitutional law. The notion of accommodation in plurinational polities needs to be unpacked and disaggregated, and all of its multiple dimensions analyzed, in order to integrate comparative politics and comparative constitutional law into the analysis. The essays in the book explore three fundamental dimensions of the politics of accommodation: constitutionalism, political culture, and nationalism. Adopting a syncretistic approach to the multiple dimensions of the politics of accommodation, this collection opens up new intellectual vistas, and provides the reader with an appreciation of the contribution that political science perspectives can make to law, and how law and jurisprudence can enrich the study of politics. Introduction : the multiple dimensions of the politics of accommodation in multinational democracies / Jaime Lluch -- Varieties of territorial pluralism : prospects for the constitutional and political accommodation of Puerto Rico in the USA / Jaime Lluch -- (Mis)recognition in Catalunya and Quebec : the politics of judicial containment / François Rocher and Elisenda Casas Adam -- The limits of constitutionalism : politics, economics, and secessionism in Catalonia (2006-2013) / Hector Lopez Bofill -- The accommodation of island autonomies in multinational states / Eve Hepburn -- From autonomism to independentism : the growth of secessionism in Catalonia (2010-2013) / Jordi Argelaguet -- The multilevel politics of accommodation and the non-constitutional moment : lessons from Corsica / André Fazi -- Flexible accommodation : another case of British exceptionalism? / Stephen Tierney -- Italy : autonomism, decentralization, federalism, or what else? / Francesco Palermo and Alice Valdesalici -- Autonomous areas as a constitutional feature in China and Finland / Markku Suksi.