Town Hall

Bruce Ackerman: Revolutionary Constitutions

June 03, 2019

Renowned constitutional scholar Bruce Ackerman discusses his new book, Revolutionary Constitutions: Charismatic Leadership and the Rule of Law―an exploration of the origins, successes, and threats to revolutionary constitutionalism around the world. Ackerman uses lessons from popular movements and their campaigns for constitutional democracy—including the American founding—to provide new insights into how to address the constitutional challenges we see today. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
 


Participants

  • Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale, and the author of 19 books in political philosophy, constitutional law, and public policy. The American Philosophical Society has awarded him the Henry Phillips Prize for We the People, his three-volume series on American constitutional development from the Founding through the modern era. He is also a member of the American Law Institute. He was been named a Leading Global Thinker by Foreign Policy magazine. His book, Before the Next Attack, served as a basis for the reform of the French constitution dealing with emergency powers.

  • Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.

 

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