Reading Seminar: Summary of ‘What Is a Constitution? Reading Toward a Problem’ Series

Join us at 10am on Thursday 7th May, in OA-Edward Wright-F61 or on Microsoft Teams (link below) for a reading seminar led by Dr Erin Ferguson, in conjunction with CCPIL.

Building on previous seminars on environmental constitutionalism and economic constitutionalism, this seminar will examine the connections between the two forms of constitutionalism. We will read and discuss Roderic O’Gorman’s article ‘Environmental Constitutionalism: A Comparative Study’.

In our last seminar on environmental constitutionalism, we discussed the global spread of the constitutionalisation of environmental rights. In his article (available at the link below), O’Gorman invites us to critically examine why the states that have not adopted such provisions have declined to do so. He observes that there are a range of contributing factors, including national context, constitutional design, and the perception that environmental constitutionalism is incompatible with economic development.

The following questions can help to get us started in our discussion:
– How does O’Gorman define environmental constitutionalism?
What has been the role of civil society in facilitating the global spread of environmental constitutionalism?
– Is environmental constitutionalism necessarily incompatible with economic development?
– What do you make of O’Gorman’s observation that the common law model of governance is resistant to environmental constitutionalism (section 5.3)? What might be the reasons for this?

Microsoft Teams meeting:

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/314137774673604?p=nnXaX88DSEeaEd3ob2

Meeting ID: 314 137 774 673 604 / Passcode: xg2zm9vV