Constitution-building and transition to democracy

In the first part of the course the students will be introduced to the definition of "countries in transition" in comparative perspective and familiarized with the problematics of constitution building in the same, especially in Russia, in the other former Soviet Republics, in the South Mediterranean countries, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Particularly attention will be devoted to the increasing role of the international organizations and of the foreign States in the constitution making process in the above mentioned countries concluding with an analysis concerning the role of institutions in consolidation of democracy and with a critical outlook on the transitional democracy paradigm.
The second part of the course concerns the Central Eastern European and Balkan countries where the so called Huntington's third wave of democratization reached its peak after 1989, but within these countries the steps of the transition differed much from one another. Some specific aspects will examined, distinguishing the differing timings of the transition, taking into account where these transitions merely needed a constitution building and where an additional state building activity was also necessary. As for Latin America, the democratization will be analysed especially through the Eighties, including a reflection on the reasons why it followed antidemocratic reflows in previous decades.