Comparative constitutional law spans a wide variety of sub-topics. This page provides an introduction and recommends a few works on a small selection of those topics. Researchers are encouraged to use these works as a starting point and use a variety of methods to find other works on point. Each text has a catalog page with Library of Congress subject headings that can be used to find other works. Other research tactics include looking at the authors' other works or scanning citations and bibliographies to find related materials.
Herz, Michael, and Peter Molnar, eds. The Content and Context of Hate Speech: Rethinking Regulation and Responses. Cambridge University Press, 2012. Digital. Also available in print.
The contributors to this volume consider whether it is possible to establish carefully tailored hate speech policies that are cognizant of the varying traditions, histories, and values of different countries. Throughout, there is a strong comparative emphasis, with examples (and authors) drawn from around the world.
Kang, Myungsoo, and Marie-Orange Rive Lasan. Hate Speech in Asia and Europe: Beyond Hate and Fear. Routledge, 2020. Digital.
This edited collection provides a timely review of the current state of hate speech research in Asia and Europe, through the comparative examples of Korea, Japan and France. Extending the study of hate speech studies beyond the largely western emphasis on European and US contexts dominant in the field, this book's comparative framework aims to examine hate speech as a global phenomenon spanning Asian and European contexts.
Pejchal, Viera. Hate Speech and Human Rights in Eastern Europe: Legislating for Divergent Values. Routledge, 2020. Digital.
This book presents a three-prong theory describing three different but complementary models of hate speech regulation which allows stakeholders to better address the recent rise of hate speech. It examines international and national legal frameworks and related case law as well as pertinent scholarly literature review to highlight this development.
Perez-Escolar, Marta, and Jose Manuel Noguera-Vivo. Hate Speech and Polarization in Participatory Society. Routledge, 2021. Digital.
This book utilizes a broad, multidisciplinary approach that examines hate speech, dislike, polarization and enclave deliberation as cross axes that influence offline and digital conversations. The diverse case studies offer insights into international news media, television drama and social media in a range of contexts, suggesting an academic frame of reference for examining this emerging phenomenon within the field of communication studies.
Udupa, Sahana, et al., eds. Digital Hate: The Global Conjuncture of Extreme Speech. Indiana University Press, 2021. Print.
This text provides a global and interdisciplinary perspective on hateful language online. Moving beyond Euro-American allegations of "fake news," contributors draw attention to local idioms and practices and explore the profound implications for how community is imagined, enacted, and brutally enforced around the world.
Sperti, Angioletti. Constitutional Courts, Gay Rights, and Sexual Orientation Equality. Hart Publishing, 2017. Print.
This book considers a wide-range of decisions by constitutional and international courts, from the decriminalization of sexual acts to the recognition of same-sex marriage and parental rights for same-sex couples. It discusses analogies and differences in judicial arguments and rationales in such cases, focusing in particular on human dignity, privacy, liberty, equality and non-discrimination.
Williams, Susan H., ed. Constituting Equality: Gender Equality and Comparative Constitutional Law. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Digital. Also available in print.
The book takes a design-oriented approach to the broad range of issues that arise in constitutional drafting concerning gender equality. Each section of the book examines a particular set of constitutional issues or doctrines across a range of different countries to explore what works, where, and why.
Wintemute, Robert and Mads Andenaes, eds. Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, European, and International Law. Hart Publishings, 2001. Digital. Also available in print.
In this text, international scholars examines both theoretical issues and the wide variety of legal developments in the United States, Canada, Brazil, thirteen European countries, Israel, South Africa, India, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand, as well as under European Community and European Convention law, and United Nations human rights law.
Barendt, Eric. Freedom of Speech. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2007. Digital. Also available in print.
This text discusses the legal protection of free speech in countries including England, the United States (including recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court), Canada, and Germany. He examines the varied approaches of different legal systems and constitutional traditions to balancing free speech and freedom of the press against rights to reputation, privacy, and copyright, and explores case law in light of the philosophical and political arguments for free speech guarantees.
Cross, Frank B. Constitutions and Religious Freedom. Cambridge University Press, 2015. Print.
Many of us take for granted the idea that the right to religious freedom should be protected in a free, democratic polity. This book challenges whether the protection and privilege of religious belief and identity should be prioritized over any other right. By studying the effects of constitutional promises of religious freedom and establishment clauses, Frank B. Cross sets the stage for a set of empirical questions that examine the consequences of such protections.
Epp, Charles R. The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective. University of Chicago Press, 1998. Print.
The Rights Revolution is the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of the growth of civil rights, examining the high courts of the United States, Britain, Canada, and India within their specific constitutional and cultural contexts. It brilliantly revises our understanding of the relationship between courts and social change.
Fredman, Sandra. Human Rights Transformed: Positive Rights and Positive Duties. Oxford University Press, 2008. Digital. Also available in print.
Human rights have traditionally been understood as protecting individual freedom against intrusion by the State. In this book, Sandra Fredman argues that this understanding requires radical revision. Human rights are based on a far richer view of freedom, which goes beyond being let alone, and instead pays attention to individuals' ability to exercise their rights.
Rodriguez-Garavito, Cesar, and Diana Rodriguez-Franco. Radical Deprivation on Trial: The Impact of Judicial Activism on Socioeconomic Rights in the Global South. Cambridge University Press, 2015. Print.
This book is an empirical study of contributions by courts in the Global South to comparative constitutionalism. It offers an analytical framework for understanding these constitutional innovations and illustrates them with a qualitative study of the most ambitious case in constitutional adjudication in Latin America over the last decade: the Colombian Constitutional Court's structural injunction affecting the rights of over five million internally displaced people and its implementation process.
Shah, Dian A. H. Constitutions, Religion, and Politics in Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. Cambridge University Press, 2017. Print.
As religious polarization in society deepens, political actors and policy-makers have begun to struggle with questions on the role of the dominant religion and how religion influences constitutional commitments and development. By focusing on Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, Constitutions, Religion and Politics in Asia demonstrates how constitution-making and the operation of constitutional arrangements involving religion cannot be separated from the broader political dynamics of society.
Brinks, Daniel M. and Abby Blass. The DNA of Constitutional Justice in Latin America: Politics, Governance, and Judicial Design. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Digital.
Dixon, Rosalind, Tom Ginsburg, and Adem Kassie Abebe, eds. Comparative Constitutional Law in Africa. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. Digital.
Dixon, Rosalind, Tom Ginsburg, eds. Comparative Constitutional Law in Latin America. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017. Print.
Ginsburg, Tom, and Alberto Simpser, ed. Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes. Cambridge University Press, 2014. Print.
O'Brien, Derek. The Constitutional Systems of the Commonwealth Caribbean: A Contextual Analysis. Hart Publishing, 2014. Print.
