VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee

As part of a wider critical-reconstructive reflection, this foray into the theory of the directive constitution, advanced by Gomes Canotilho in 1982 and highly influential in Latin-American and Southern-European countries, hopes to capitalize on its...

This article examines the intricate interplay between Transformative Constitutionalism, Directive Constitutions, and the erosion of constitutional values amid incremental authoritarian challenges, using Brazil as a case study. It explores a scenario...

This paper explores the key ideas behind the theories of Transformative Constitutionalism and the Directive Constitution, in an effort to find the missing link between the two intertwined models, the former being an evolution of the latter, somehow...

The study of federalism brings together both political scientists and constitutional lawyers. It is one of those fields of study where the scholarly and the applied are inextricably interlinked. However, studies on and from the non-Western world...

This study analyzes two of the most important pillars of Brazil's developmentalist project: its internal colonialism and the use of the State of Exception. In order to do that, the focus of the analysis is the construction of the Belo Monte...

This overview article introduces the special issue on “The Directive Constitution in the varieties of constitutionalism”, which revisits debates on the constituição dirigente in Portugal and Brazil, analyses the genealogy, substance and...

Two of the most important constitutional theories developed in contemporary times, transformative constitutionalism and the idea of “Constituição Dirigente”, significantly impacted the Brazilian constitutional debate. Both are recurrent...

Coined originally by the great constitutional law scholar José Gomes Canotilho in the aftermath the post-revolutionary Portuguese constitution of 1974, the concept of a constituição dirigente (‘directive constitution’) has found some...

This paper examines the dynamics of traditional chiefdoms in Cameroon in relation to political power. It is shown that in contact with colonization, the traditional chiefdoms underwent serious restrictions in their territorial arrangements and in...

Despite the global trend, climate change litigation in Southeast Asia has remained underexplored and has been given less attention within scholarly discourse. This article aims to contribute to the debate in the region by taking a critical stand in...

The protection of fundamental rights is an important issue and the very essence of the rule of law proclaimed in article 1 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This protection must be ensured by the judge and more...

As the climate crisis disproportionately imperils the health of populations living in poverty and social exclusion in Latin America, realizing the most vulnerable population's right to health as a crucial component for achieving climate justice...

The jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of the Seychelles, the Court, is provided for under different provisions of the Constitution. Article 46 deals with the circumstances in which a person may approach the Court to enforce human rights. It...

Applicable law protecting the right to health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) consists of ratified human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the African Charter on...

The global climate crisis is increasingly recognised as an issue of climate injustice, including because it is causing (and worsening) inequalities and human rights violations. Moreover, responsibility for emissions and vulnerability to climate...

This article provides a critical overview of youth-led climate change litigation, an emerging practice which could go some way towards redressing the injustice the Global South suffers as a result of global warming. It preliminarily explores the...

What do we learn when we ask ‘the woman question’ of constitutions of the Global South? Constitutions worldwide are increasingly the subject of gender analysis, which rests on ‘asking the woman question’ to uncover the gendered implications...