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We All Stand Together: The Role of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions in Promoting Constitutionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2016

Maartje DE VISSER*
Affiliation:
Singapore Management University

Abstract

This article critically evaluates the interplay among courts with constitutional jurisdiction in Asia. This is done in the specific context of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions (AACC). The article finds that the AACC has to date made only a nominal contribution to cultivating inter-court relations in furtherance of common goals and advances the claim that its members ought to rectify this state of affairs. On the one hand, transnational judicial alliances have instrumental value for participating courts in the discharge of their mandate. On the other hand, the AACC can be a useful conduit in nurturing an Asian perspective to the global judicial discourse on constitutional issues. In that vein, the article identifies the most suitable means to enable the AACC to optimally discharge its role to help advance respect for democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in the region.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and KoGuan Law School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University 

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Footnotes

*

Associate Professor of Law, Singapore Management University. I wish to thank participants in the 11th Asian Law Institute Conference (29 and 30 May 2014, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper as well as Victor Looi for valuable research assistance. Correspondence to Maartje de Visser, School of Law, Singapore Management University, 60 Stamford Road #04–11, Singapore 178900. E-mail address: mdevisser@smu.edu.sg. Funding for this study was provided by the SMU Internal Research Grant Fund (Project Fund. No. 14-C234-SMU-015).

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