Document Type

Article

Publication Title

American University International Law Review

Abstract

I am happy to have received this opportunity to respond to Professor Herman Schwartz's presentation on what South Africa could learn from the American constitutional experience. My views of substantive provisions of the proper constitution differ sharply from those of Professor Schwartz in the American arena, and these differences will surely carry over to a discussion of what South Africa might learn from the American experience, now that it must confront its own tortuous transformation into a democratic nation. My remarks contain a warning against much of the conventional wisdom about what is right and wrong in constitutional building in periods of transition, and I hope that my words will exert a dim cautionary influence during the hectic and tumultuous constitution negotiations that are sure to come, no matter what is said at any academic conference, including this one. Before one can address the questions of transition, however, it is necessary to say something about constitutions more generally. Hence, my plan of operation is to start with the general and then turn to the particular.

First Page

567

Volume

8

Publication Date

1993

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