Mark Tushnet, Classifying Varieties of Constitutionalism, in 6 European Yearbook of Constitutional Law 2024: Varieties of Constitutionalism (Maartje De Visser, Ingrid Leijten, Jurgen de Poorter et al. eds., 2025).
Abstract: This chapter offers some reflections that aim to help us arrive at a more analytic understanding or classificatory system of constitutionalism’s varieties. It explores different avenues to arrive at such an understanding, suggesting that it may be instructive to consider differences in what is constitutionally entrenched and how strong such entrenchment is as well as the role of courts. The chapter also considers regional constitutionalism and argues that it is difficult to identify distinct regional institutions, rights and ideas that cannot also be found, in some form, outside the region in question. It concludes that scholars attach adjectives to the word “constitutionalism” because they believe that doing so illuminates the specific topic with which they are concerned. The adjective ties that form of constitutionalism to other nouns to which the adjective is attached, such as values, politics and culture. Seen in this way, we can classify varieties of constitutionalism no better than we can classify those other nouns.