The Possibilities of Constitutional Imaginaries

Wed 19 Mar 2025, 18:30 - 20:00

Accessibility
Hearing loop
Wheelchair accessible venue

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Flags fly outside the General Secretariat Building at the United Nations Headquarters
Venue
The Shaw Library, Old Building, London School of Economics, WC2B 4RR
Price
Free, booking required

Delivered by the most outstanding academics in the UK and beyond, the British Academy’s flagship Lecture programme showcases the very best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. This event is part of the Maccabean Lectures in Jurisprudence lecture series.

This lecture will explore the potential of the idea of ‘imaginary’ for the theory, methods and practical applications of comparative constitutional law. Drawing on philosopher Charles Taylor it will examine whether a social imaginary – described by Taylor as encompassing a broad shared understanding of how a group of people imagine their collective social life – is relevant to the operation of constitutions and explore whether and how the idea might be tailored more specifically to constitutional purposes, in the form of a constitutional imaginary. The lecture will use these foundations to consider the extent to which an imaginary, in either sense, explains why constitutional systems that are ostensibly similar in form operate differently in practice, and what the conclusions might mean for the making and implementation of new constitutions. More broadly, the lecture is designed to contribute to a range of contemporary debates on constitutional identity, intrastate pluralism, multi-level government, and the path to a more global understanding of comparative constitutional law.

Speaker: Professor Cheryl Saunders FBA, University of Melbourne

Professor Cheryl Saunders FBA Headshot
Professor-Cheryl-Saunders-FBA-Headshot-2024

Cheryl Saunders has specialist interests in Australian and comparative public law, including comparative constitutional law and method, intergovernmental relations and constitutional design and change. She is a President Emeritus of the International Association of Constitutional Law, a former President of the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies, a former President of the Administrative Review Council of Australia and a senior technical advisor to the Constitution Building program of International IDEA. She has held visiting positions in law schools in many parts of the world and is an officer of the Order of Australia and a Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur of France.

Free, booking required, tickets to be released in 2025

This event includes a reception for all attendees after the lecture.

This in-person event will take place in partnership with the London School of Economics (LSE). If you have any questions about this event, please email [email protected].

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