Methodology

Constitution-making refers to the process and outcome of enacting a new consti­tution. This volume explores four sets of questions regarding constitution-making in Asia: causes; process; substance; and implementation.

Causes:

• Why do the countries make constitutions?

• More specifically, what are the political, social, and economic factors that drive the constitution-making?

Process:

• How are constitutions made?

• Who makes these constitutions?

• How does the public participate, if at all, in the constitution-making process?

• How are sectors, if any, of the international community involved in the constitution-making process?

Substance:

• What are the substantive contents of constitution-making?

• What problems do these substantive provisions try to address?

Implementation:

• How are constitutions implemented?

• What kinds of legislation are enacted to implement constitutions?

• How do courts enforce the constitutions?

• How do different social and political actors engage in constitutional implementation?

The volume includes 19 Asian jurisdictions, including those in:

• East Asia: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia.

• Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

• South Asia: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

This volume focuses on a selection of case studies across Asia based on their enduring significance. We chose jurisdictions in which the latest constitution­making exercise continues to bear a significant impact on the constitutional present. Both the process and the outcome of the constitution-making experi­ences analysed in this volume reverberate in contemporary constitutional politics in each of our case studies. We also wanted to include examples from across Asia and a representative sample from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.

The volume adopts a collaborative method. It would have not been possi­ble without the superlative contributions of our authors who brought a wealth of jurisdiction-specific expertise alongside comparative constitutional insight. The authors presented full drafts of their chapters over an engaging two-day online workshop and received feedback from commentators, other authors, and editors.

We then collated the feedback and returned the drafts to the authors asking them to revise their respective chapters to engage more deeply with the key comparative questions the volume is structured around. The volume in your hands is the result of a year-long collaborative project structured around a deep intellectual engagement and exchange among the emerging community of Asia constitutional comparativists around the world.

IV.