The constitutional upheavals affecting the United Kingdom and Ireland in recent years have led to questioning of the effectiveness of traditional techniques of constitutional regulation, as well as of the security and appropriateness of more recent constitutional innovations. Domestic concerns about the effectiveness of constitutional regulation chime with broader international themes about the rise of populism and democratic backsliding, producing a need for imaginative thinking about how best to secure constitutionally appropriate behaviour. This conference will provide a forum for in-depth exploration of questions of constitutional technique, focusing on, but not limited to, constitutional regulation in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The ICON-S GBIE co-chairs invite proposals for papers and/or panels on any issues within the conference theme. Illustrative topics include, but are not limited to:
• The merits of legal versus political techniques of regulation, including questions of content (eg substantive versus procedural rules), enforcement (eg civil versus criminal sanctions), and mechanisms for developing or amending constitutional rules;
• The role of international versus domestic regulation of constitutional relations and/or the interaction between them;
• Alternatives to rules, eg, the role of institutional design, public participation, accountability mechanisms, or other incentive structures in ensuring appropriate constitutional behaviour;
• The proper subjects and objects of constitutional regulation, eg the reach of constitutional norms beyond state actors.
Papers may focus on a particular constitutional issue, or on a particular constitutional technique. They may also deal with a single jurisdiction, or take comparative, interdisciplinary and/or theoretical approaches. We welcome papers that explore critical perspectives on the conference theme, and particularly papers from diverse and traditionally under-represented perspectives.
Proposals may be for a single paper or for fully formed panels (three or four speakers). Panel submissions should include a panel abstract and an abstract for each paper. Panel organisers should bear in mind the desirability of diversity in panel composition. Paper submissions should include an abstract. All abstracts should be no more than 200 words each and should identify the proposed speaker and their institutional affiliation. Please email your proposals to [email protected]. The closing date for receipt of proposals
is 25 March 2024.
All are welcome to submit proposals. We strongly encourage PhD students and early career researchers to submit proposals. There will be no charge for attendance at the conference, but places are limited.
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