IACL
2d/2022: International Association of Constitutional Law Research Group "Constitutionalism and Societal Pluralism: Diversity Governance Compared"
- Deutsch
- English
- Italiano
- Project duration: December 2019 - December 2023
- Project status: ongoing
- Funding: Internal funding EURAC (Project)
Most common approaches to studies of federalism and minority rights have contributed little in terms of viable constitutional answers to the increasingly relevant challenge of accommodating societal and territorial pluralism. This holds true, in particular, if a combination of both addressing claims for recognition and creating an effective system of governance is taken as a required standard. The research group brings together scholars exploring the role of constitutions against this backdrop in managing societal and territorial pluralism. The group studies topics such as federalism, minority rights, language policies, human rights and instruments of democratic participation with a threefold aim: first, to revisit the conceptual framework of diversity governance; secondly, to explore how societal pluralism is regulated in diverse policy fields; thirdly, to link different approaches to diversity governance across continents and academic traditions.
The group brings together scholars exploring the role of constitutions
in managing societal and territorial pluralism and in attempting to set
the frame for dealing with diversity in a holistic manner. By so
doing, the research group studies federal solutions, autonomy
arrangements, minority rights, language policies, human rights rules,
democratic/political pluralism and participatory instruments. The
constitutional framework in this area has to be looked at in broader
terms, ie in a comparative analysis of domestic (national and
subnational) constitutions as well as considering international and
supranational obligations.
Most of the consolidated approaches to federal studies and minority
rights fail to provide viable constitutional answers to the growing
claims for accommodating societal and territorial pluralism. Nearly all
federal or quasi-federal arrangements developed over the past three
decades aim at granting broader self-government to minority groups
within states. Such approach, however, does not prove sound enough to
address the demands for recognition, together with an effective system
of governance. Contemporary constitutionalism requires the inclusion of
an ever more numerous variety of interests and stakeholders in
decision-making processes and this challenges law-makers and civil
servants when it comes to the governance and management of societal
pluralism. To ensure good governance and a high public responsiveness
to policies, more attention has to be paid not only to how institutions
regulate pluralism, but also to the practical impact regulatory
frameworks have on the management of societal complexity in various
policy fields.
Against this background, the research group studies how
constitutionalism affects the governance of societal complexity and to
what extent the management of societal pluralism requires both a
reconsideration of the conceptual framework of diversity governance,
and a rethinking of its traditionally connected empirical research
agendas. Building on the studies on legal pluralism, multilevel
democracy, transnational constitutional law, the fragmentation of
authority as well as the multiplication of (bottom-up) claims, the aim
of this research group is threefold. First, it contributes to revising
the conceptual framework of diversity governance. Second, it elaborates
(comparative constitutional) studies on how societal pluralism is
regulated in diverse policy fields. Third, it has practical impact on
the circulation of diversity governance approaches to specific policies
across academic traditions, and continents.