Pell Center

The Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina is a multidisciplinary research center focused at the intersection of politics, policies and ideas.

Quick Hit: ‘We the People’ Losing Appeal

I read this story in the New York Times on Monday and found it both fascinating and troubling.

“We the People” Loses Appeal with People Around the World”

Here’s a brief quote:

In 1987, on the Constitution’s bicentennial, Time magazine calculated that “of the 170 countries that exist today, more than 160 have written charters modeled directly or indirectly on the U.S. version.”

A quarter-century later, the picture looks very different. “The U.S. Constitution appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere,” according to a new study by David S. Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia.

It’s a fascinating account.  What do you make of it?  Why is the U.S. Constitution less a model today than it was 25 years ago?

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