All eyes in Nepal are on the Constitution-Making Process (CMP). With the May 28, 2010 deadline for the drafting of the constitution fast approaching, barely 6 months remain to reach the goal, requiring more intense focus on the process. This resource is part of an ongoing project of the Media Foundation to create an inventory on useful online information and tools on the CMP, for journalists, writers and researchers.
It includes global and national historical perspectives, a timeline for Nepal, links to Constitutional Committees and their activities, and useful online resources on CMP and the role of media. Above all, this tool kit is designed to help locate relevant information quickly and efficiently in a single platform.
Constitutional waves in history
As of November 20, 2009, the Constitution-finder (at University of Virginia at Richmond) records a total of 201 constitutions of nations and territories around the world. According to Dr Jochen Abr. Frowein, Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, there have been at least 3 major waves of constitution making in history. The first began after World War I. The second started after the liberalization process, following World War II. The collapse of the communist empire and the end of Cold War in 1989coincided with another wave of constitution making, in what is also described as the “third wave” of democratization process.
A recent (March 4-7, 2008) Princeton University deliberation notes that the newest wave of constitution making has several distinct causes:
“The new wave of constitution making has several distinct causes. Institutional crisis and the shift to multi-party rule as an attempt to generate greater governmental accountability necessitated new constitutions in some instances. In others, people have lost confidence in democracy and now seek to re-work some of the institutional arrangements putt in place earlier [Somewhat relevant to Nepal]. Wars and peace settlements [Relevant to Nepal], or the collapse of federations, have also precipitated the creation of new constitutions. In some instances, constitutions and constitution making are frameworks for continued negotiations and must assume the difficult task of creating order.”