Internationalised Constitution Making and State Formation: Negotiating Peace and Statehood in South Sudan and Somaliland (Comparative Constitutional Change)

This book presents an in-depth and nuanced interdisciplinary and comparative analysis of (post-)conflict constitution-making in South Sudan and Somaliland, exploring the ways in which the two emerging states negotiate statehood in a globalised world. It critically examines the transfer of international constitution-making models as part of international rule of law promotion frameworks. Specific emphasis is placed on the socio-cultural translation dynamics of these models in conflict settings. The comparative study explores the tensions between state sovereignty and international interventions, examining whether international constitution-making involvement fosters the production of societal consensus or inadvertently impedes efforts to achieve stability and peace. By focusing on constitutional law-making, the book sheds light on how normative ideas are transformed in negotiations and opens up new analytical avenues for re-thinking conventional constitution-making practices. It critically reconsiders the assumption that every emerging state requires a written constitution, alongside the state-centred notion of sovereignty underpinning this paradigm. Additionally, the study addresses the power and knowledge hierarchies inherent in international interventions, providing empirical data from post-conflict African contexts. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of comparative public law, constitutionalism, sociology of law, anthropology, legal geography, international relations, political science, and African studies.

Katrin Seidel is a habilitated adjunct professor, currently working as a senior researcher at the European Center of Just Transition Research and Impact-Driven Transfer at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. She was Acting Professor for Critical African Studies at the Leipzig University and Senior Research Fellow in the Law & Anthropology Department of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Based on her interdisciplinary background in law, African/Asian studies, and anthropology, her research is situated at the intersection of legal pluralism, statehood and governance, conflict resolution, and postcolonialism.