Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Constitutional law – history »

Two interpretations of constitutional history: product of chance or of design – Written v. unwritten constitutions – Political and historical backdrop of constitutional development – Evolution of interpretation of specific constitutional texts – Chances of a global constitution

On 29 May 2005 the French said no to the draft of a European Constitution. And frankly, the French should know about constitutions! One can differ whether the history of France should be considered a fruitful garden of constitutional thought, a graveyard of constitutional experiments, a ‘musée des constitutions’, or a minefield; in any case it is beyond doubt that the French are rather experienced in constitutions and constitutional changes. Since the French Revolution in 1789, France has been a monarchy, a republic more than once, an empire twice and a constitutional monarchy in between; the nineteenth century shows the pattern monarchy, republic, empire; since 1958 the French live in their Fifth Republic.There is a lot to learn from the constitutional history (perhaps struggle is a better word in this context) of this important European country for any political entity in search of a proper constitution. Which constitutional institutions were a success, which were not; why did it or did it not work out the way it was planned?

In history, perspective is everything. Given that, I should make it clear from the start that I approached Mark deWolfe Howe's history of the First Amendment and church–state relations as a historian who studies constitutions and constitution-making, and more specifically as a historian of constitutions who has written about how and why we do constitutional history. Viewing it from that perspective, I must admit I have mixed feelings about this book.

The first part of the seminar examined a mystery that reverberates through two centuries: how does a constitutional system of government, itself born of revolution, properly provide for its own revision — provide literally for its own reconstitution? We first considered the political and intellectual assumptions against which Article V of the United States Constitution — the amendment article — was drafted, and then looked briskly at the historical context in which the Constitution's twenty-six amendments have been adopted. With this as background, we addressed a range of issues concerning the law and policy of constitutional change that are currently the subject of lively dispute in America.

SummaryThis article examines the origins, differentiation, and migration of constitutional entrenchment clauses from the beginning of modern constitutionalism until today. It is based on a broad understanding of ‘entrenchment clauses,’ covering all constitutional provisions that make amendments either to certain parts of a constitution or under certain circumstances more difficult to achieve than ‘normal’ amendments or even impossible, i.e., legally inadmissible. In particular, the article answers three questions: (1) When, and in which contexts, did the different types of constitutional entrenchment clauses emerge? (2) How have these types spread globally? (3) Which constitutional subjects do such clauses protect, and thus, which main functions do they aim to fulfill? The article is based on the new and unique Constitutional Entrenchment Clauses Dataset (CECD), which comprises 860 written national constitutions worldwide from 1776 until the end of 2015.

<p>The history of Indonesian constitutional law began in the Dutch colonial period when Indonesia was still called the Dutch East Indies. Then after Indonesia's independence in 1945, for the first time formed a constitution or Basic Law. The focus of the study in this study is to try to explain the development of Indonesian constitutional law from the Old Order era to reform. This is to find out how the history of the development of Indonesian constitutional law from time to time, especially from the beginning of independence to reformation. The method in this study is qualitative, with a historical approach. The data collection method used is the method of library research (library research). Then analyzed using the descriptive-analytic method. At the beginning of independence in 1945, Indonesia's constitutional law was contained in the 1945 Constitution. The 1945 Constitution described Indonesia as a unitary state with a president as the head of state as well as a democratic head of government. Besides that, under Soekarno's government, constitutional law was regulated in several constitutions, including the 1949 RIS constitution and the 1950 UUDS. And Soekarno's government at that time was known for its nationalist and anti-capitalist politics. The Suharto government was known for its authoritarian politics, political stability, and economic growth. Finally, during the reform period, after the fall of President Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia underwent significant political reforms. Constitutional law is regulated in the 1945 Constitution with several amendments which emphasize the principles of democracy, human rights, decentralization of government, and increased political participation. The history of the development of constitutional law in Indonesia in general shows quite dynamic developments and always follows changes according to political and socio-cultural developments in Indonesia.</p>

Perception and Impact of the American Constitution on German Constitutional Debates, 1789–1949 This article considers the impact of the American federal constitution of 1787 on German constitutional debates. Its prime chronological focus is on the nineteenth century, as this time period has so far received relatively little systematic scholarly attention. The article examines both the political rhetoric that emphasised – and often exaggerated – American influences and the practical impact these debates had on constitutions in German-speaking countries. The article highlights the extreme complexity of such developments, with very widely different perceptions of what ‹America› stood for, being used as a reference point in constitutional debates. The direct impact of American constitutional thinking on the structure and design of constitutions in German countries remained, however, very limited. It was only after the unconditional surrender of National Socialist Germany that a constitutional order emerged in the Federal Republic in 1949 that embodied significant elements of American (or more generally ‹Western›) constitutional thought, most importantly in the provisions for ‹basic rights› and a Federal Constitutional Court in the West German Basic Law.

One of my few unrepressed childhood memories is of a high-school field trip to the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The docent, a hapless but not entirely innocent volunteer, addressed us in a tone of perky condescension usually reserved for precocious six-year-olds. Thus, when he stood before an object of local veneration—the state constitution of 1780, I think, or perhaps one of the royal charters—and clucked, “Now class, does anyone know what ‘constitution’ means?,” it was with casual adolescent malice that a voice from the back answered, “Yeah, it has something to do with metabolism.”

Abstract Lithuania’s 1992 Constitution has undergone a series of amendments, including certain structural changes. Besides formal amendments, constitutional regulation is subject to reinterpretation in the Constitutional Court’s case law. As a result, not only the content of specific provisions of the Constitution, but also the very perception of constitutional law has been reshaped by, inter alia, reducing the system of sources of constitutional law to only the Constitution and official constitutional doctrine. Recently the Constitutional Court, in an activist move, undertook modification of the settled new paradigm by introducing the notion of ‘supra-constitutionality’ and by postulating which constitutional provisions, until then deemed amendable, were non-amendable. The article deals with the doctrine in both the historical and the theoretical context and with its effect on the perception of constitutional law, in particular its structure.

Abstract: In this paper we examine the appropriateness and significance of the law of exception in the Spanish constitutional order. For this, we have examined the models of Comparative Law that Spain has followed to restore its disturbed constitutional order. Basically, historically, concern arose at the time of North American and French Revolutions of how to incorporate into the Constitution the institutions related to their protection. British singularity was also manifested in the way of understanding and including specific protection for the defence of the Constitution and the law of exception, with institutions such as martial law or habeas corpus. The suspension of habeas corpus as an extraordinary instrument of protection of the state organization was considered in the American Constitution of 1787, and is thought of as a precedent of Article 55.1 of the current Spanish Constitution of 1978. During the period between 1812 and 1869, the law of exception contemplated in Spanish Historical Constitutions covers only the suspension of guarantees. The republican Constitution of 1931 conserved the outline of the Constitution of 1869, with certain relevant alterations. The most significant normative instruments of this legislation were the Law of Defence of the Republic and the Law of Public Order of 1933. After the publication of this last Law, it became the extraordinary norm that has most deeply and habitually been put into practice, since Spain has experienced practically a permanent situation of "constitutional abnormality". This highlights the fact that a Law of Public Order for the defence of the constitutional regime established by the Second Republic could be transferred in many of its precepts, with very similar contents to the Francoist Law of Public Order that was able to remain in force until much later, being finally repealed by the Organic Law of LO 1/1992, of Protection of Citizen Safety.

This thesis studies the evolution of the war prerogative in England from 1600-2010. It traces the historical theory and practice of the war prerogative and proposes reform of the constitutional arrangements for its exercise. It addresses three key questions. First, what have writers on political and constitutional theory said about the constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative, and, in particular, what justifications have been advanced for those arrangements? Secondly, in practice, has the executive in fact possessed sole and exclusive powers over war and the deployment of force, or have Parliament and the courts had a role to play in their exercise and scrutiny? Thirdly, are there better ways to organise our constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative, to enable a more substantive role for Parliament (particularly the House of Commons) in its exercise and scrutiny? On the first question, I show that orthodox theoretical and political discourses have continuously asserted the executive’s exclusive power over war, but the justifications advanced for that arrangement have changed over time. Those changes reflect the varying influence of different political theories at different times. On the second question, I find that, contrary to orthodox theoretical and political discourses, Parliament has played an active and substantive role in the exercise and scrutiny of the war prerogative. The courts have refused to intervene in the exercise of the war prerogative, but have been more ready to intervene in cases involving the exercise of powers incidental to the war prerogative. On the third question, I argue that reform of the constitutional arrangements for the war prerogative is necessary and desirable. I recommend the use of ‘institutional mechanisms’, which are small-scale rules and institutional arrangements, within existing institutions, which aim to promote certain normative goals. In particular, I propose a statute which would impose conditions on the executive’s exercise of its war prerogative. I argue that these proposals show that, through careful institutional design, democratic values, national security and operational efficiency can each be reconciled and promoted.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Mason University, 2007.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 17, 2008). Thesis directors: Charles K. Rowley, Duncan Black. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics. Vita: p. 206. Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-203). Also available in print.

In Dred Scott v. Sandford, Chief Justice Roger Taney spoke for the majority of the United States Supreme Court to declare that Blacks were not constituent members of the American political sovereignty, but rather they were “beings of an inferior order, altogether unfit to associate with the white race” and they “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” Through engaging in a critical inquiry of constitutional hermeneutics, Blacks looked to the Constitution to deduce their collective identity. However, when they looked in the constitutional mirror, they saw a broken reflection. By evaluating the existential dichotomy of the African-American self-identity revealed in the responses to the Dred Scott decision, this research argues that the African-American self-identity was broken by the Supreme Court’s declaration that they were neither citizens nor people under the Constitution; however, in the face of the Dred Scott decision, the African-American self-identity used the very document which denied their right to exist, to galvanize a unique identity capturing their oppression, and the hope to realize their deprived liberty.

It has become almost universal practice for countries to adopt written constitutions that include a bill of rights. Yet we know little about the origins and evolution of the practice of constitution-writing on a global scale. Are bills of rights defining statements of the nation’s character and identity? Or are they more standardized documents that are similar across countries, and vary only at the margins? Are substantive constitutional features rooted in the society for which they are written, or are they borrowed from elsewhere? What are the origins of the world’s “words of liberty”? This thesis presents the first-ever systematic substantive exploration of the world’s written constitutions. It introduces a new database, based on the coding of the constitutions of 188 countries, for the period 1946-2006. With this data, it explores the historical trajectory of the world’s written constitutions and offers explanations for their substantive content. This thesis's most important finding is that constitutions are inherently “transnational” documents. As it turns out, substantive constitutional choices are remarkably unrelated to local needs and values. Constitutions do not express identity or national character. Instead, the most important predictor of whether any particular country adopts any particular constitutional provision is whether other countries previously did the same thing. Constitutions do not tell stories of the nation’s history, but rather tell stories of transnational interactions and international politics. As a result, constitutions have become at least partly standardized documents that vary along a small number of underlying dimensions. But this thesis also shows that not all constitutions are the same, and that there exists no evidence of a global constitutional convergence. Instead, the world’s constitutions divide in a limited number of constitutional families. This thesis is not currently available in ORA.

In the 20th century, Serbia had a very interesting and diverse constitutional development and constitutional solutions, changing the principles of the organization of government, the form of social organization, the diversity of state communities. In this period of time, Serbia passed a large number of constitutions, and some of them were revoked and again, with minor changes, adopted. In any case, such a rich constitutional history has contributed to the fact that Serbia has great constitutional experience, which will be necessary when adopting new constitutional changes that will inevitably follow in the future and which should be used in order not to make the historical mistakes we made in the past. All the constitutions that were proclaimed in Serbia in the 20th century (there were eith of them) were of significance not only for the principle of separation of powers between three branches of government, but also for the creation of conditions for the functioning of economic entities. Basic principles that werw established bythe constitutionalarticles werw to a guide to how economic rights should be regulated, and above all: equality of private and other forms of property, free market, freedom of entrepreneurship , independence of economic entities.

The article analyses the attitude of writers of the constitutional law textbooks from the former Yugoslavia towards the Vidovdan Constitution. The author focuses on the textbooks used at the time of writing in teaching and for exam preparation of Constitutional Law at state-owned law faculties as of academic year 2020/21. However, the analysis also includes several textbooks that represent a kind of historical readings. By comparing the relevant materials, the author made an attempt to shed light on scientific, legal and even political attitude of various authors towards the Vidovdan Constitution, and indirectly towards the Yugoslav state itself. The significance of this analysis is reflected in the fact that young generations - future lawyers and members of the social elites of the states created on Yugoslav foundations, get acquainted with their constitutional history through textbooks of constitutional law.

The article is devoted to the problem of the social state as one of the fundamental constitutional principles of the state structure of modern developed countries. The course of historical development of philosophical and legal thought on this problem is considered. The idea of a close connection between the concept of the social state and the ideas of utopian socialism of Thomas More and Henri Saint-Simon is put forward. Liberals also made a significant contribution to the development of the idea of the social state, they argued that the ratio of equality and freedom is a key problem for the classical liberal doctrine. It is concluded that the emergence of the theory of the social state for objective reasons was inevitable, since it is due to the historical development of society.

The Vidovdan Constitution of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is one of the most important monuments of regional history of constitutional law. Adopted in 1921, in order to determine the basic principles of state and social organization, the Vidovdan Constitution contained certain provisions that are still acceptable today 100 years later. Moreover, the Vidovdan Constitution represents one of the most important moments in the creation of the administrative judiciary of the states that later emerged in the territory of the Kingdom. Namely, the literature states that the organization of the administrative judiciary, provided by the Constitution, leads to the most significant period in the development of the administrative judiciary (in Serbia) from its founding in 1869 until the Second World War. In this regard, as one of the most important aspects, authors emphasize the introduction of a two-tier administrative judiciary, with significant guarantees of professionalism in the selection of judges. Having in mind its significance in the history of the administrative judiciary, the authors will analyze the basic constitutional norms regarding the legal nature and organization of the administrative judiciary. Also, the research will include the issue of the position of judges of the administrative court and members of the State Council. In addition to the constitutional provisions, paper gives mentions to relevant provisions of the Law on the State Council and Administrative Courts, as well as the Decree on the State Council and Administrative Courts adopted shortly after the Vidovdan Constitution.

This article explores the topic on interaction between fundamental rights protected in the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia (Satversme), international human rights and European Union law. The author reflects the evolution of the principle of openness in Satversme toward international human rights by analysing influence of international human rights law upon Latvia’s fundamental rights protection system through the course of history – in the interwar period, after the restoration of the independence and in adoption of fundamental rights chapter of Satversme. Further on, the author analyses the application of international human rights law and European Union law in the Constitutional Court’s jurisprudence and identifies controversial issues.

As a special problem the division of subjects and methodology of history of law with different branches of law is arisen - such as the constitutional, financial law, and also with economic science. The author investigates their evolution within interference with the history of law, the possibility to ensure the autonomy of the scientific branches by formulation of aims and tasks of investigations.

Many modern countries strive to reflect the principles of the rule of law in their national legal systems. This problem is being investigated by legal scholars around the world. In 1993, on December 12, a new Constitution was adopted in the history of Russia, which declared The Russian Federation a legal state. This marked a new stage in the development of ideas of the rule of law in the history of Russia.

" The process of building peaceful coexistence within societies is the basis upon which the entity of society and the state is based and its survival, and this process must be reflected in legal texts starting from the constitution and ending with laws, instructions and practices that include principles that contribute to: The stability of society and the state. But the lesson is not only in the texts, but these texts must be reflected in steps on the ground, so that they are integrated with each other, for the purpose of building a homogeneous and integrated society. If we look at modern Iraqi history, we will find that there are three stages of the life of the Iraqi state that witnessed three constitutions that included the elements of peaceful coexistence, and reality witnessed obstacles to these ingredients and these three stages are: the stage of establishing the Iraqi state, which is represented in the Iraqi Basic Law of 1925, and The stage of changing the state’s pattern from a monarchy to a republic, the impact of a military coup, represented in the temporary Iraqi Constitution of 1958, and finally the stage of building the Iraqi state after 2003, represented in the permanent Iraqi constitution of 2005, and these stages and the events and developments they witnessed have raised several questions and Of which: - What are the principles of peaceful coexistence in theory? - What are the legal texts in the three Iraqi constitutions on the social foundations of peaceful coexistence, and were these texts reflected on the ground? - Is the reality of peaceful coexistence in Iraq consistent with the principles stated in the Iraqi constitutions, especially the 2005 constitution? The importance of this study comes from what it discussed in the foundations of peaceful coexistence within societies that witnessed internal conflicts, and the Iraqi society is not far from them, also through its research on the foundations of peaceful coexistence, especially social ones in the three comparative Iraqi constitutions and the extent of their manifestation in governmental or semi-governmental institutions government to consolidate the foundations of coexistence among the various components of Iraqi society. The main hypothesis of this research is (The texts of the constitution are not the only guarantor for building peaceful coexistence within society, unless these texts are reflected in the way state institutions deal with social components). For the purpose of answering the previous questions and verifying the mentioned hypothesis, we divided the research into the following two sections: The first topic dealt with the concept of peaceful coexistence and its principles and social foundations, while the second topic we searched for the principles of peaceful coexistence in the Iraqi constitutions compared with their social foundations, as we concluded the research In conclusion, it contains conclusions and recommendations, as well as a list of sources. "

The paper is dedicated to the development of advocacy in France throughout history, and special attention is paid to the struggle of lawyers to repair the damage caused to their position by the Bourgeois Revolution. The goals of the legal struggle were fully achieved in the period of the Third Republic, rightly called the "Republic of Lawyers", when they took over the legislative and executive power. French lawyers, especially in the 19th century, were often real political dissidents. With their work as a politival opposition, they redefined the relationship between the state and society and set a clear border of state power, all of which enabled the easier emergence of a liberal constitutional monarchy, and then a republic. Due to the constant opposition activities in the courtroom, the lawyers demonstrated in the best possible way how closely law and politics stand in each state. In the introductory chapter of the paper, the author gives an overview of the historical development of advocacy from the Frankish period to the Revolution itself. During the Old Regime, lawyers enjoyed the status of "secular clergy" and, although members of the Third Class, were an unavoidable political factor in absolutist France. The second chapter contains an analysis of the devastating impact of the Revolution on the legal profession and timid attempts to improve the position of the legal profession with the advent of the Restoration. The third chapter provides an overview of the period from 1830 to 1870, which was characterized by the increasingly serious interference of lawyers in politics in order to fight for the advancement of the profession. The chapter on the Third Republic talks about the successful outcome of the lawyer's fight for their own rights, and the final chapter talks about the tendencies in the French legal profession in the 20th century.

One of characteristic features of ancient law was a particular form of restriction on contractual autonomy in the form of provisions on the non-pledgeability of items indispensable for the social or economic life of citizens. This paper outlines the evolution of the closely related provisions in the Code of Hammurabi, the Decalogue, the Code of Gortyn, and Roman Imperial Constitutions, and considers the underlying motives for their enactment. A particular question is whether the relevant norms on non-pledgeability of the Roman Imperial period were motivated by a Christian tendency to favour the debtor (favor debitoris).

The concept of impeachment has its origins in the history of political and legal thought as a constitutional mechanism to remove public officials for serious violations of the law or abuse of power. Originating from England, it has influenced the constitutions of the United States and the countries of Latin America. In addition to concrete grounds for impeachment, constitutions also allow for impeachment based on abstract grounds, designed for cases where no specific offence can be proven, but the abuse of power is so obvious that the people must be guaranteed the right to recall their elected leader. In Latin America, military coups have been replaced by so-called “soft coups”, which abuse various legal instruments. The abstract nature of the grounds for impeachment contributes to the potential misuse of this mechanism as a tool of lawfare, as many cases demonstrate. During the past decade, Peru has experienced a series of impeachments, with three presidents facing removal from office due to political conflicts between the legislative and executive branches. These cases highlight the use of impeachment as a tool of lawfare, undermining democratic stability and raising concerns about the transparency and impartiality of the process, as well as the erosion of democratic principles.

The concept of impeachment has its origins in the history of political and legal thought as a constitutional mechanism to remove public officials for serious violations of the law or abuse of power. Originating from England, it has influenced the constitutions of the United States and the countries of Latin America. In addition to concrete grounds for impeachment, constitutions also allow for impeachment based on abstract grounds, designed for cases where no specific offence can be proven, but the abuse of power is so obvious that the people must be guaranteed the right to recall their elected leader. In Latin America, military coups have been replaced by so-called “soft coups”, which abuse various legal instruments. The abstract nature of the grounds for impeachment contributes to the potential misuse of this mechanism as a tool of lawfare, as many cases demonstrate. During the past decade, Peru has experienced a series of impeachments, with three presidents facing removal from office due to political conflicts between the legislative and executive branches. These cases highlight the use of impeachment as a tool of lawfare, undermining democratic stability and raising concerns about the transparency and impartiality of the process, as well as the erosion of democratic principles.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

The change through grassroots democratic processes in the Indian political system is the result of a growing conviction that the big government cannot achieve growth and development in a society without people's direct participation and initiative. The decentralized political institutions have been more participatory and inclusive ensuring equality of political opportunity. Social exclusion in India is not a new phenomenon. History bears witness to exclusion of social groups on the bases of caste, class, gender and religion. Most notable is the category of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Women who were denied the access and control over economic and social opportunities as a result they were relegated to the categories of excluded groups. It is true that the problems of the excluded classes were addressed by the state through the enactment of anti-discriminatory laws and policies to foster their social inclusion and empowerment. Despite these provisions, exclusion and discrimination of these excluded groups continued. Therefore, there was a need to address issues of ‘inclusion’ in a more direct manner. Madhya Pradesh has made a big headway in the working for the inclusion of these excluded groups. The leadership role played by the under privileged, poor and the marginalized people of the society at the grassroots level is indeed remarkable because two decade earlier these people were excluded from public life and political participation for them was a distant dream. Against this backdrop, the paper attempts to unfold the changes that have taken place in the rural power structure after 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act. To what extent the decentralized political institutions have been successful in the inclusion of the marginalized section of the society in the state of Madhya Pradesh [India].