In-Person | Elaborating the constitution through institutional pluralism

Please note that the time allocated for this colloquia will be devoted to discussion.

Speaker: Prof Athanasios (Akis) Psygkas (Western University)

About the Session: This lecture explores how modern constitutions operate as pluralistic systems of governance that develop dynamically by drawing on the contributions of diverse institutional actors. Conventional accounts have addressed this question by focusing either on the political or the legal constitution. More recently, there has been renewed scholarly interest in overcoming this strict distinction and expanding the range of actors that are recognized as elaborating on constitutional principles relationally.

Drawing on the case study of same-sex marriage, the lecture illustrates that institutional pluralism around the world reflects an underlying norm of democratic constitutionalism. Across countries with different background constitutional structures, political cultures, and institutional traditions, there are common bottom-up appeals for involvement in constitutional authorship beyond judicial and legislative elaborations. Analytically, the lecture argues that this framework captures more accurately the complex institutional dynamics across various legal systems. Normatively, this public and inter-institutional conversation facilitates a dynamic interpretation of constitutional principles that reflects bottom-up constitutional evolution rather than top-down delivery of constitutional meaning.

About the speaker

Athanasios (Akis) Psygkas is Associate Professor of Law at Western University in Canada, where he co-directs the Public Law Research Group. His research interests include comparative public law, law of democracy, regulation and governance, and he has advised international NGOs on these issues. Prior to his appointment at Western University, Akis was Senior Lecturer in Public Law and Politics at the University of Bristol. From January to April 2025, Akis is a visiting academic at UCL Faculty of Laws. He has also held visiting positions at the University of Toronto, the European University Institute, the University of Milan-Bicocca, the Université Paris-Dauphine, and the Institut d’études politiques (Sciences Po) Paris.

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The Institute brings together political and legal theorists from Law, Political Science and Philosophy and organises regular colloquia in terms 2 and 3. Read more about the Institute's work.

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