Asian Constitutionalism and Development (LAWS90302)

Early on in the 2000s, many commentators predicted that the 21st century would experience the ‘rise of Asia’. This assessment was based on several factors, including the growing dominance of Asian nations such as China and India in several spheres, including the growth of their domestic populations, their domestic economies, and their increasing power on the geo-political stage. Nearly a quarter century on, it is time to assess the strength of such claims.

This subject seeks to do so by providing an overview of the theory and practice of constitutionalism focusing on the experience of four Asian jurisdictions, drawn from South and Southeast Asia: India, Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Two of these are among the largest, most pluralistic nations in the world, while the remaining two are small island states. All four nations experienced long periods of colonial rule, which continues to have a decisive impact on their post-colonial legal and constitutional orders. The experience of colonialism contrasts quite starkly from those nations which were settler colonies, and this is an important focus of the course. In each of these nations, discussions about constitutionalism have become enmeshed within larger societal debates about economic development, cultural values, and human rights.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• Discuss methodological approaches and participate in debates in the field of comparative constitutional law and rights;
• Recognise and evaluate the complex factors that can impact the constitutional health of a polity;
• Compare and critically assess the competing pressures inherit in securing economic development and entrenching forms of liberal constitutionalism;
• Critically analyse the continuing influence of patterns of colonialism on the contemporary legal orders of former colonies, and distinguish between policies in settler and non-settler colonies;
• Examine and characterise recent constitutional politics involved in the move towards populism and authoritarianism in India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Generic skills

• Be exposed to a range of factors that affect the development of constitutional orders, in ways that may be surprising to those trained in nations where the development of systems of social welfare preceded the creation of a nation state;
• Obtain a sense of the complexity of factors that are posed by the simultaneous study of constitutional law and political economy;
• Have the cognitive and technical skills to generate critical and creative ideas relating to comparative constitutional law and rights, and to critically evaluate existing legal theories, principles and concepts with creativity and autonomy;
• Develop an advanced level of understanding of constitutional politics to complement the knowledge of the students' own constitutional system.