Constitutionalism Old Dilemmas, New Insights

This book is a compilation of twenty essays prepared for the occasion of the XIII Academic Conference of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Colombia, held in Bogota in January 2019. Gathering some of the most prominent authors in constitutionalism and legal theory, the chapters critically examine classical debates, such as the role of judicial review in a democracy, the enforcement of socio-economic rights, the doctrine of unconstitutional amendments, the use of international and foreign precedents by national Courts, and the theory of transitional justice. The book opens a dialogue between philosophers and empirical researchers, building bridges between 'Global North' and 'Global South' approaches to constitutionalism. As such, it is an invitation to reengage with the classical debates on constitutionalism whilst also providing fresh insights into the future of this discipline.

1. - Constitutionalism, Liberalism, and Democracy
2. - The Misconceived Quest for the Elusive Right Answer, or Dedication to a Process, Not a Result
3. - Dialogic constitutionalism in defective democracies
4. - From the Public Action of Unconstitutionality of 1910 to the Constitutional Court of 1991: The political and legal struggles for Constitutional Justice in Colombia
5. - Courts as Guarantors of Democracy
6. - The Machinery of International Law and Democratic Backsliding: The Problem of Term Limit
7. - The Straw that Broke the Constitution's Back? Qualitative Quantity in Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendments
8. - Between the Explicit and Implicit Limits? An Analysis of Judicial Review of the Constitutional Amendment Doctrine in Colombia
9. - Constitutional Rights Without the Notion of Optimization: Limiting Judicial Activism in the Realm of Social and Economic Rights
10. - To Interfere or Not to Interfere? The Court's Dilemma in Social Rights' Enforcement
11. - How can Rights Be Individuated?
12. - The Colombian Model of Structural Socioeconomic Rights Remedies: Lessons from and for Comparative Experience
13. - The Resilient Constitution
14. - Judging the Justice of the Colombian Final Agreement
15. - The transitional justice model in Colombia vis-à-vis the Inter-American Human Rights System: Amidst the conventionality control and the national margin of appreciation
16. - Righting Wrong or Wronging Rights? An Ethical Perspective on the Colombian Integrated System for Transitional Justice
17. - International and Foreign Law in Domestic Constitutional Law: A Comparative Examination of the Practice in United States and Post Conflict Countries
18. - The Inter-Institutional Dimension of the Fundamental Rights Revolution: The Colombian-American Implications of the Franco-European Experience
19. - The Changing role and reception of international law in domestic constitutional law: Some Thoughts about Latin America and Europe
20. - Not so Moderate: The Relationship Between the Colombian Legal System and International Law

Alejandro Linares Cantillo is Associate justice of the Colombian Constitutional Court. He has an LL.B. from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, holds an LL.M degree from Harvard University, and is a PhD in Law from the Universidad Externado de Colombia. Justice Linares has practiced law for more than 30 years in both the public and private sector. Additionally, he has also taught at several universities in Colombia for example the Universidad de Los Andes, Universidad del Rosario, and Universidad del Norte. Camilo Valdivieso-León is a law clerk at the Chamber of Justice Alejandro Linares-Cantillo (Colombian Constitutional Court). He was assistant professor of international investment law (Spring, 2017) and private international law (Fall, 2019) at the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia). He holds an LLB from the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia, 2015); and specialization degree in public management and administrative institutions from the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia, 2018). Santiago García-Jaramillo is a law clerk at the Chamber of Justice Alejandro Linares-Cantillo (Colombian Constitutional Court); Professor of Constitutional Law at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia); visiting research scholar at Cornell University (Spring, 2018 and 2019). He has an LLB from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia, 2013); and a specialization degree in public law from the Universidad Externado de Colombia (2016).