Are constitution-makers political representatives? In this paper, I argue that absent the creation of new constitution-making procedures and institutions, framers cannot be understood as political representatives in the traditional sense because, among other things, accountability mechanisms are lacking. However, I argue that this is unproblematic, because the ideal relationship between representatives and their constituents, at least as explained by mainstream accounts in democratic theory, runs against the central task facing constitution-makers. This finding provides reason to be suspicious of the uncritical importation of normative concepts designed to explain ordinary democratic politics to the realm of constitution-making.
We look forward to welcoming you on July 4-6, 2022 for our Annual Conference on Global Problems and Prospects in Public Law.
Check out the program on our Annual Conference Website