Abstract

Comparative constitutional law as a discipline is heavily engaged in the task of knowledge creation. Its primary object has been the constitutions around the world. Under the aegis of this discipline, one studies the constitutions around the world and analyse the plurality of the constitutional principles and rules with the aim to develop certain universal constitutional conceptions and model apart from identifying and elucidating the fundamental values that form the basis of the constitutional arrangements and agreements. But despite having such elaborate and essential objectives of the subject, it suffers from certain fundamental challenges and questions which if not answered seriously undermine the basis and legitimacy of the discipline itself. One such major cause of concern in this regard is that the discourse and research endeavours in this field are elitist in nature and is based on a select set of elite nations in the “global north” who are politically stable, economically secure constitutional democracies and the discipline in no regard displays representational character and does not answer any questions of constitutional importance pertaining to the concerns of the global south. Further, global south as a distinct approach has not been given its chance at recognition in the field of comparative constitutional law, thus and it can be said that the gap in this regard is preventing the discipline from becoming a full-fledged discipline of law. Further, a major debate regarding comparative constitutional law is the debate between universalism and particularism. This is important as questions are raised whether or not there is a need to develop certain fundamental and universal principles in the arena of constitutional law or not. Therefore, it is important that we make the discipline of comparative constitutional law more inclusive and biases towards the southern scholarship and with respect to case selection for conducting comparative study without any basis must be eliminated. But, at the same time the shortcomings of the global south critique must also be addressed to ensure that it is not just criticism for the sake of it and has quality reasoning behind it. This will help us to ensure that the study regarding comparative constitutional law and will be more widely accepted and well received around the world.

Keywords