Dr Paolo Sandro hosts roundtable and work in progress talk on Constitutional Democracy
The events brought together a panel of experts on constitutional law.
On the 9th and 10th of March 2023, the School of Law saw internationally renowned constitutional law experts gathering for two great academic events. First, on the 9th, Professor Jen Hendry chaired a hybrid book roundtable on Dr Paolo Sandro's first monograph, The Making of Constitutional Democracy: From Creation to Application of Law.
The panel was formed of Professor Eoin Carolan (University College Dublin), Professor Erin Delaney (Northwestern University), Dr Marco Goldoni (University of Glasgow), and Professor Mila Versteeg (University of Virginia), and saw the four distinguished experts probing many of Sandro's theoretical claims in the book with replies from the author, giving rise to a lively discussion. You can find a recording of the event here. The next morning, Carolan and Delaney held a thought-provoking work-in-progress session on the subject of constitutional change outside the courts with early-career researchers and post-graduate researchers from the Centre for Law and Social Justice.
I was incredibly grateful for the engagement with my book by these four stellar constitutional law scholars - they probed many of the main claims in the book and gave me much food for thought on its limitations - particularly on the interactions between constitutional design and its operationalisation. I must have taken 30 pages or so of notes! I'm sure those interested will find the discussion that ensued very useful once they watch the recording of the event.
Dr Sandro’s monograph was published by Hart Publishing/Bloomsbury in January 2022, as part of the prestigious Law and Practical Reason series. It combines insights from different disciplines (including history, anthropology, political science, philosophy of language, and philosophy of action) while also casting new light on long-standing issues in jurisprudence and public law. You can read more on Dr. Sandro’s book here.
