Authors: Nohlen
Summary: The approximately 1700 word entry broadly introduces the term while focusing on the constitution of states, distinguishes a normative conception from the actual political structure, reviews the historical process of constitution building, and contrasts the constitutional development in Western States with that of the socialist Eastern European States. In both English and German the term constitution is used to refer to the physical state of a person and only since the second half of the 17th century also used to refer to the actual or normative political structure of a state. A distinction is made between the reality of how political institutions work together, studied by constitutional historians and political scientists, and the constitutional law of a state as the normative framework within politics takes place, studied by constitutional lawyers. The latter becomes increasingly important at the end of the 18th century, when in the aftermath of the French Revolution more and more states come to rely on a constitution to lay out the separation of powers and basic political principles in a general law. While socialist states also have constitutions, they are distinguished by the fact that they explicitly are not grounded in principle of the separation of powers to structure political decision-making processes. The entry highlights the originally American practice to include human rights and compares the constitutional development in the United States, Germany and France. Conservative constitutional theorists in all countries argued for an organic change over time, while liberal and especially socialist theorists were more progressive. The entry ends by reflecting on current constitutional debates in Germany involving topics such as social change and constitutional adaptation, the relationship between government and parliament, federalism, and the role of the German Supreme Court.