***

Hosted by

Richard Albert
Professor of World Constitutions and Director of Constitutional Studies
The University of Texas at Austin

All sessions to be held at

The University of Texas at Austin

the School of Law
727 East Dean Keeton Street
Austin, Texas
78705

For questions and assistance, please contact

Raymundo Rodriguez
raymundo.rodriguez@law.utexas.edu

***

Registration is now closed.

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2ND GRADUATE CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 1

 PROGRAM
–Draft–

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Registration
12:30pm-1:25pm | Location: Atrium

Panel I – The Forces and Dynamics of Constitutional Reform

1:30pm-2:45pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. André Azevedo |Constitutional Change in the Constitutional History of Brazil and Chile

2. Giulia Chinaglia | Constitutions and Conflictuality: A Theoretical and Comparative Insight

3. Chelsea Guo | Eternity Clauses and Autocratic Legalism

Roundtable Discussion I
2:45pm-3:30pm | Location: Sheffield Room

How to Write a Book Proposal in Constitutional Studies

Richard Albert
The University of Texas at Austin

Panel II – Constitution-Making
3:45pm-5:00pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Simon Ballesteros | Democratic Constitution-Making in Comparative Perspective

2. Bruno Santos Cunha | Multi-Textuality by Amendment: The Brazilian Constitutional

Practice

3. Tanveer R. Jeewa | The Lifespan of an Inherited Constitution from the “Colonial Master”:
An Argument for More Rigorous, Substantive Constitutional Amendments in Newly
Independent Countries

4. Hernán Gómez Yuri | Chile’s Constitutional Future

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2ND GRADUATE CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 2

Panel III – Constitutional Legitimacy
5:15pm-6:30pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Paz Avila | Constitutional Legitimacy in a Land of Constitutional Change

2. Ayaka Doyle | Theorizing Constitutional Legitimacy in the Context of Japan’s Post-War

Constitutional Change

3. Luciano Simonetti I. | Constitutional Legitimacy – A Conceptualization

Dinner
6:30pm | Location: Jamail Pavilion

Friday, January 12, 2024

Panel IV – Defending Democracy

10:00am-11:15am | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Claire Adionyi & Mukami Wangai | Protecting Kenya's Democracy

2. Ignatius Yordan Nugraha | Domesticating the Sovereign: The People as a Constituted

Power

3. Sfiso Benard Nxumalo | The Sisyphean Struggle: The African Union and Constitutional
Changes

Roundtable Discussion II
11:30am-12:30pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Constitutional Changes that Set the Table for “Quotidian Constitutional Reform”

Daniel Brinks
The University of Texas at Austin

Lunch
12:30pm-2:00pm | Location: Jamail Pavilion

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2ND GRADUATE CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 3

Roundtable Discussion III
2:00pm-3:00pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Court-Driven Constitutional Change in Divided Societies

Ashley Moran
The University of Texas at Austin

Roundtable Discussion IV
3:15pm-4:15pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Reflections on the Endurance of Constitutions – 15 Years On

Zachary Elkins
The University of Texas at Austin

Book Launch
4:30pm-5:10pm | Location: Sheffield Room

The 2022 International Review of Constitutional Reform

Elisa Boaventura, Maria Letícia Borges, Bruno Cunha,

Matheus Depieri, Júlia Frade, and David Sobreira

Panel V – Informal Constitutional Change

5:15pm-6:30pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Mathilde Ambrosi | Presidential Fidelity to the Constitution: A Path to Constitutional

Mutation

2. Garrett Jeffrey Jones | The Implied Powers Presidency: Emergency Power Origins and
Limit

3. Alexis Ramírez | A Theory of Informal Constitutional Norms: Mending the Gap Between
Common Law and Civil Law Traditions

Dinner
6:30pm | Location: Jamail Pavilion

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2ND GRADUATE CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 4

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Panel VI – Constitutional Interpretation

10:00am-11:15am | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Tsung-Chun Chen | A Theoretical Analysis of the Tensions Between Popular Sovereignty

and the Informal Constitutional Changes through Judicial Review

2. Jakub Mirosław Sawicki | Do Not Let Us Mistake Necessary Evils for Good – The
Adjudication of Dilatory Constitutional Compromises in Poland and Israel

3. Cem Tecimer | The Multifarious Brown

Panel VII – Constitutional Rights

11:30am-12:20pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Ilise Feitshans | The Dead Smelly Cat in the Middle of the Health Equity Table

2. Júlia Frade | Reproductive Rights and Constitutional Amendment Proposals in Brazil

Lunch
12:20pm-1:30pm | Location: Jamail Pavilion

Panel VIII – Judicial Power

1:30pm-2:45pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Shakhawat Hossain | Is Mere Constitutional Guarantee of Institutional Independence

Enough to Maintain Judicial Independence in Bangladesh?

2. Michal Kovalčík | Judicial Transparency -- How Transparent Should Courts Be in a

Different Political and Social Context?

3. David Sobreira and Carlos Marden Coutinho | Taming Justice

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2ND GRADUATE CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 5

Panel IX – Irregular Constitutional Reform
3:00pm-4:30pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Elisa Amorim Boaventura & Maria Letícia Borges | Unconstitutional Constitutional

Amendments and the “Balance of Powers” PEC in Brazil

2. Nickson Oira | Abuse of Formal Constitutional Amendment Processes: Presidential Terms

in Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda

3. Jacqueline Sirois | A Retroactive Modification to Saskatchewan’s Constitution: Derailing

Constitutional Amendments in Canada?

4. Mokitimi Tšosane | Constitutional Retrogression and Abusive Clownstitutionalism in

Lesotho Constitutional Reforms

Panel X – Constitutional Theory

4:45pm-6:00pm | Location: Sheffield Room

Chair: Richard Albert, The University of Texas at Austin

1. Lucas Bertolo | Constitutional Change as a Political Technique: Carl Schmitt’s Critique of

the Technical-Bureaucratic Rationality

2. Ahsan Yousaf Chaudhary | Unified Theory of Conflict and Constitution: An Introduction

3. Mikołaj Wolanin | Omission of the Constitutional Mode of Adoption of the Law – An

Attempt to Find Reasons for this Phenomenon on the Example of Poland

Dinner
6:00pm | Location: TBD

***

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2ND GRADUATE CONFERENCE ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE 6