Small State Constitutionalism - by Maartje de Visser & Rosalind Dixon & Elisabeth Perham (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This volume addresses the important, but under-noticed, question of the impact of state size and scale for constitutional law and governance.

Often, the best way to understand the effect of scale is to examine states where scale is demonstrably lacking. Doing so allows a form of 'reflective' comparison that provides greater insight and clarity into the significance of state size, and constitutional scale, as factors affecting a range of constitutional outcomes.

As such, the collection brings together scholars from a wide range of jurisdictions, living and working across the Global South and North, to focus on the lessons from a range of small states and jurisdictions in this context. Attention is devoted to the constitutional experiences of such states and jurisdictions in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and Oceania. The volume also explicitly invites critical reflection on, and problemisation, of the issues of line-drawing and boundary definition around notions of state and jurisdictional size.

It will be of interest to audiences working in and interested in small states generally, as well as a broader comparative audience interested in issues of scale in constitutional design and implementation.

About the Author

Elisabeth Perham is Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Maartje De Visser is Associate Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law and College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University, Singapore.
Rosalind Dixon is a Scientia Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia.