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10 - The Anatomy of Constitution Making

From Denmark in 1849 to Iceland in 2017

from Part II - Case Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2020

By
Thorvaldur Gylfason
Edited by
Gabriel L. Negretto
Gabriel L. Negretto
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
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Summary

This chapter reviews aspects of the constitution-making process in Iceland after the financial collapse of 2008, emphasizing the differences between the provisional constitution of 1944 when Iceland separated unilaterally from Nazi-occupied Denmark and Denmark’s 1849 constitution which served, with notable exceptions, as the prototype for Iceland’s 1944 constitution. The comparison and contrast between the Icelandic and Danish constitutions invites a comparison also between Iceland’s 1944 constitution with the new post-crash constitution from 2011 accepted by two-thirds of the voters in a national referendum in 2012 and waiting to be ratified twice by a reluctant Parliament. Against this comparative background, the chapter proceeds to discuss political and procedural aspects of Iceland´s constitutional reform project, and concludes by proposing lessons to be learned from Iceland´s experience thus far.

Keywords

Constitution makingdemocracyIcelandDenmark
Type
Chapter
Information
Redrafting Constitutions in Democratic Regimes
Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives
 , pp. 217 - 240
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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