Friday, December 2, 2022

Dippel's "Modern Constitutionalism"

Horst Dippel, professor emeritus of British and American Studies at the University of Kassel, has published Modern Constitutionalism: Origin and Manifestations. England - North America - France - Germany - Europe/European Union - Latin America (Talbot Publishing, 2022):

Dippel assesses the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 12 June 1776 and shows how its ten principles made it the founding document of modern constitutionalism, which subsequently spread across the United States and, beginning with the French Revolution, Europe and Latin America. He shows how these principles were always confronted, in varying degrees, by resistance and opposition and always enriched, modified, or diluted by local or regional variations. With multiple examples from the 17th through the 21st centuries, Dippel shows both what a global and individual national history of modern constitutionalism might look like and how it would help us to better understand the present constitutional situation of individual American and European states, as well as the world we live in.
–Dan Ernst