Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. The Story of Constitutions
  • Cited by 1
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
October 2023
Print publication year:
2023
Online ISBN:
9781009385084
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009385084
Subjects:
Constitutional and Administrative Law, Legal History, Law, Comparative Law, Comparative Politics
Series:
Comparative Constitutional Law and Policy
Information

Book description

Today, 189 out of 193 officially recognised nation-states have a written constitution, and 75% of these have been ratified since 1975. How did this worldwide diffusion of constitutions come about? In this book, Wim Voermans traces the varied and surprising story of constitutions since the agricultural revolution of c.10,000 bce. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, Voermans shows how human evolution, human nature and the history of thought have all played their part in shaping modern constitutions. Constitutions, in turn, have shaped our societies, creating imagined communities of trust and recognition that allow us to successfully co-operate with one another. Engagingly and wittily told, the story of constitutions is vital to understanding our world, our civilisations and, most significantly, ourselves.

Awards

Winner, 2024 The Constitutional Studies - 2023 Book of the Year Award, The University of Texas at Austin

Reviews

‘A grand masterpiece that teaches as much as it inspires, this outstanding book enriches our understanding of the origins and evolution of constitutions and opens new research streams that will guide scholars for years to come. This magisterial work catapults Voermans to the Mount Rushmore of modern constitutional studies.’

Richard Albert - The University of Texas at Austin

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Page 2 of 2

Contents

Page 2 of 2

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.