Interim Constitutions: Legal Nature and Performance

In the wake of wars and revolutions, fragile societies increasingly turn to interim constitutions to enact their visions for a brighter future. With more than 150 interim constitutions enacted globally since 1789, an understanding is needed of these legal instruments and how well they perform. As the first major comparative study, Interim Constitutions: Legal Nature and Performance fills this void. This authoritative guide for practitioners and scholars addresses how interim constitutions compare to other constitutional reform options, when they are used and why, their functions, drafting processes and main design features, negotiation challenges, and the benefits they yield – including whether they lead to final (non-interim) constitutions, as well as greater peace and democracy. Dozens of hypotheses in the state of the art on achieving successful transitions are tested and disrupted, leading to novel and useful insights for improving future practice. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.