Over the last quarter of a century, constitutionalism has been an important feature of the Southeast Asian political landscape. The notion of constitutionalism encompasses two different (although sometimes associated) meanings. In a narrow, mostly juridical sense, constitutionalism can be regarded as the process through which formal constitutions are drafted (or redrafted). It contains an institutional dimension most often supported in specifically designed state bodies, as well as the expectation that the emerging charter will frame the life of the polity in the future. However, this term can also be understood as a significant step in the adoption of ‘constitutional policies’, or the development of key political elements, such as the separation of powers, rule of law, checks and balances, or human rights, that enrich the basic notion of polyarchy. In this light, constitutionalism is closely associated with the spread of democratic polities, a trend that Samuel P. Huntington (1991) dates to the Portuguese Carnations Revolution of 1974. It was then stimulated by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and is said to have reached Southeast Asia in the 1990s. True, constitutions exist in nations that do not possess democratic regimes; but practically all democracies elaborate fundamental charters in which the basic tenets of the political structure are spelled out. A fundamental condition for the existence of democracies, in the words of Juan Linz (1997: 117), is the establishment of the a formal state based on the rule of law, which in turn is normally grounded on the provisions of a constitution.

Bjoern Dressel and Marco Bunte have argued that constitutional practices now sweeping Southeast Asia had important impacts in four critical areas – individual rights and religion; the place of the military; the rule of law, courts and justice; and the very process of constitutional drafting. In all of them, significant levels of political contestation have been channelled to the emerging constitutional practice, offering an important basis on which democratic developments could lay their foundations. This chapter takes a close look at one of these areas – the process of constitutional drafting in Timor-Leste under the aegis of the UN administration. Constitution-making is indeed one of the most visible arenas for contestation, and the experience of Timor-Leste should be regarded in this context.