Abstract
What happens to liberal democratic constitutions during a severe financial crisis?
How does such an event affect their nature, their practice, and their enforcement,
particularly where such constitutions are relatively new? In this chapter, I seek
answers to these questions through empirical analysis of the experience of the states
in Southeast and East Asia over the last quarter century (1990–2013), eliciting both
quantitative and well-rooted qualitative evidence.
Though highly challenging, Asia is particularly suitable terrain for this kind of
empirical exploration. While the political and constitutional diversity of the region
make broad generalization problematic – many states in the region are so far from
the normative liberal-constitutional ideal they might best be described as hybridnominal constitutional orders1 – it is also true that the severe impact of the Asian
financial crisis (AFC, 1997–98) and to a lesser degree the recent global financial
crisis (GFC, 2008–09), has provided a unique opportunity to explore the nexus
between liberal constitutional practice and financial crisis – and to test the claim
that ‘constitutionalism has significantly broadened and deepened its reach in Asia in
modern and contemporary times
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Constitutions in Times of Financial Crisis |
Editors | Tom Ginsburg, Mark D. Rosen, Georg Vanberg |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 305-326 |
Edition | 1st |
ISBN (Print) | 9781108679404 |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |