Democratic Transformation & Sovereign Governance

The Indian and Israeli constitutions take different forms. India operates under a written constitution adopted in 1950, with a wide bill of rights and a judiciary that has developed the doctrine of unamendable basic structure. Israel has accumulated Basic Laws since 1958 and has spent the period since 2023 working through a public contest about the role of judicial review.

Both traditions engage the same family of questions. How does a constitutional democracy respond to political pressure for change in its core without losing the constraint that gives the constitution its function. How do parliamentary majorities and judicial review reach accommodation when they reach opposing conclusions. How does federalism, or its absence, shape the conduct of national politics when contestation runs along regional and communal lines. How do democracies sustain the standing of minorities under majoritarian pressure.