Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand

New Zealand’s constitutional journey has been revived in recent years through three expert-led dialogues on more certain, formalised and new constitutionalism: the Constitutional Advisory Panel (2013), Matike Mai Aotearoa (2016) and Constitution Aotearoa (2017). This paper advocates that any constit...

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Main Author: McMenamin, Rebecca
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/7922
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spelling ftvuwellington:oai:researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz:10063/7922 2023-08-15T12:41:50+02:00 Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand McMenamin, Rebecca 2017 http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/7922 en_NZ eng http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/7922 Inclusive constitution-making Participatory constitution-making New Zealand Constitution-making Constituent assembly Participation Representation Ownership Public oversight Text 2017 ftvuwellington 2023-07-25T17:28:39Z New Zealand’s constitutional journey has been revived in recent years through three expert-led dialogues on more certain, formalised and new constitutionalism: the Constitutional Advisory Panel (2013), Matike Mai Aotearoa (2016) and Constitution Aotearoa (2017). This paper advocates that any constitution-making in New Zealand should follow inclusive processes to uphold democratic legitimacy and facilitate deliberation. There are three key elements of inclusive constitution-making. First, the people should have ownership over important parts of the process. Second, there should be a citizen-led representative drafting body–a constituent assembly without the power to make ordinary law and comprised of politically independent delegates. Third, there should be public oversight of the process to ensure transparency and provide for meaningful consultation. This paper undertakes a comparative exercise, analysing recent inclusive constitution-making experiences in Iceland and Ireland, to offer proposals for inclusive constitution-making in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand’s most significant challenge in terms of ownership is considering the proper role for experts and balancing the power of political elites in a climate of constitutional apathy. In terms of representation, the most significant challenge for New Zealand is how to represent the interests of Māori as tangata whenua and how to represent traditionally marginalised voices in politics, such as those of women, ethnic minorities and youth. In terms of public oversight, the biggest challenge is how we can use digital democracy in constitution-making. Text Iceland Victoria University of Wellington: ResearchArchive New Zealand
institution Open Polar
collection Victoria University of Wellington: ResearchArchive
op_collection_id ftvuwellington
language English
topic Inclusive constitution-making
Participatory constitution-making
New Zealand
Constitution-making
Constituent assembly
Participation
Representation
Ownership
Public oversight
spellingShingle Inclusive constitution-making
Participatory constitution-making
New Zealand
Constitution-making
Constituent assembly
Participation
Representation
Ownership
Public oversight
McMenamin, Rebecca
Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand
topic_facet Inclusive constitution-making
Participatory constitution-making
New Zealand
Constitution-making
Constituent assembly
Participation
Representation
Ownership
Public oversight
description New Zealand’s constitutional journey has been revived in recent years through three expert-led dialogues on more certain, formalised and new constitutionalism: the Constitutional Advisory Panel (2013), Matike Mai Aotearoa (2016) and Constitution Aotearoa (2017). This paper advocates that any constitution-making in New Zealand should follow inclusive processes to uphold democratic legitimacy and facilitate deliberation. There are three key elements of inclusive constitution-making. First, the people should have ownership over important parts of the process. Second, there should be a citizen-led representative drafting body–a constituent assembly without the power to make ordinary law and comprised of politically independent delegates. Third, there should be public oversight of the process to ensure transparency and provide for meaningful consultation. This paper undertakes a comparative exercise, analysing recent inclusive constitution-making experiences in Iceland and Ireland, to offer proposals for inclusive constitution-making in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand’s most significant challenge in terms of ownership is considering the proper role for experts and balancing the power of political elites in a climate of constitutional apathy. In terms of representation, the most significant challenge for New Zealand is how to represent the interests of Māori as tangata whenua and how to represent traditionally marginalised voices in politics, such as those of women, ethnic minorities and youth. In terms of public oversight, the biggest challenge is how we can use digital democracy in constitution-making.
format Text
author McMenamin, Rebecca
author_facet McMenamin, Rebecca
author_sort McMenamin, Rebecca
title Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand
title_short Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand
title_full Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand
title_fullStr Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand
title_full_unstemmed Inclusive constitution-making: Lessons from Iceland and Ireland for Aotearoa New Zealand
title_sort inclusive constitution-making: lessons from iceland and ireland for aotearoa new zealand
publishDate 2017
url http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/7922
geographic New Zealand
geographic_facet New Zealand
genre Iceland
genre_facet Iceland
op_relation http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/7922
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