Arab Constitutionalism: The Coming Revolution

"Protests and reform. Ten years ago, millions of protesters in over a dozen countries took to the streets to demand radical change. In many cases, their purpose was to force long standing dictators from office and to establish a democracy. In others, they demanded reform and clear action against corruption. Each country set a path of its own, but if there was one point of agreement between all actors it was that constitutional reform was an absolute necessity. What followed was the greatest concentration of constitutional reform efforts in the world since the end of the Cold War. Through this process, twelve out of the region's twenty countries either replaced their constitutions or amended them within just a few years, some more than once. In some countries, dictators who were about to be toppled promised constitutional reform, before ultimately ceding power to allow others to manage that process on their own. In others, chief executives organised constitutional reform efforts themselves, always carefully framing the scope of reform to a few limited issues. In addition, at least two other countries were deeply impacted by the protest movement and seriously contemplated constitutional reform efforts of their own"-- Provided by publisher