2003/03/01 by Heinz Klug · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #International Law and Human Rights #Judicial and Constitutional Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/0268580903018001007
openalex publication_date 2003/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
The wave of post-Cold War state reconstruction was marked in its reliance on the adoption of new constitutions as the marker of a state's transition to a new order. Whether at the beginning or end of the process, or as the central theme, as was the case in South Africa, post-Cold War constitutions came to reflect a common core of principles and institutions, despite the often nationalist tone surrounding their creation. This article argues that these constitutions both reflect a dominant post-Cold War international political culture and yet rely on their own histories and reconstruction processes to create hybrid forms to address local conditions. This process involves a specific politics, in which models - such as the US Constitution - are either used as models or anti-models, and results in the creation of a postcolonial collage of constitutional mechanisms and institutions that might offer an opportunity to achieve the democratic outcomes which have so often eluded postcolonial countries.