A constitution is a body of rules defining and limiting power relationships within a political community. This body can be comprised of a number of legal acts accumulated across time or can be unified in a single written document. In all cases, a common focus of constitutional charters is the organization of the various branches of state’s authority as well as the limitation of their intervention with respect to individual and collective liberties.

The vertical axis describes the tension between liberty and state, the core feature of any constitution. Most contemporary constitutions clearly distinguish between one set of norms regulating the state organization and another part defining citizens’ rights. The horizontal axis stresses the fact that different constitutional actors can be at play, depending on historical epochs or political arenas, with a swing of the pendulum from individualism to collectivism.