Constitutional Cafe

By Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies

Scholarly but fun conversations about constitutions brought to you by the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at Melbourne Law School.... more

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FAQs about Constitutional Cafe:

How many episodes does Constitutional Cafe have?

The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.

Constitutional Cafe episodes:

March 10, 2026Democracy, Elections and Polarisation: How a long-forgotten Australian can help us save democracy
In this episode, Constitutional Café co- host Adrienne Stone talks with Professor Edward Foley, a recent distinguished visitor at Melbourne Law about democracy, polarisation and electoral systems.
Professor Foley is interested in how voting systems might help depolarize the intense partisan competition that is experienced in the United States. In a recent lecture delivered in Melbourne he shone new light on the work of Australian mathematician who in the late 19th and early 20th Century pioneered “ranked choice” or “preferential” voting, which has been in place in Australia for decades and forms part of Australia’s unique voting system.

Edward B. Foley holds the Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law at The Ohio State University, where he directs also its election law program, and is widely recognized as one of the United States’ foremost experts on election law.

Recommended reading:
On Democracy, Robert A. Dahl
Grant, Ron Chernow
Constitutional Cafe is a podcast of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. You can find out more about the work of the Centre here.

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we record, learn, and live.
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25min
September 28, 2022 Democratic Constitutional Reform in Chile: Looking Back and Forward
Chile recently saw the defeat at a national referendum of a proposed new democratic constitution. What should we make of this result, and what does it mean for the future of democratic constitutional reform in Chile and globally? Did Chilean constitution-makers try to achieve too much, too fast? Was the vote the product of opposition disinformation, or popular misunderstanding? Or was the defeat a product of deeper forces pushing against the chances of successful democratic constitutional transformation?

In this podcast, Rosalind Dixon explores these questions with an expert Chilean and comparative constitutional panel, including Professor Veronica Undagarra, Javier Cuoso and David Landau.
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52min
August 29, 2022 This is a test
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1min
April 10, 2022 Inside Putin's Crackdown on Russia's Oldest Constitutional Rights Group
Associate Professor William Partlett speaks with Marina Agaltsova about her work at Memorial Human Rights Centre in Moscow and why that organisation is now facing liquidation.
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40min
April 10, 2022 Post-Juristocracy - the End of Powerful Courts?
This podcast discusses the notion of ‘post-juristocracy’ – whether we're seeing the end of the broad global shift toward more powerful courts worldwide, which has been an ongoing trend for the almost 80 years post-World War II.
These developments include the declining legitimacy of apex courts in states like the USA and India, preventive actions against the expansion of judicial power in states like the UK, capture of previously powerful courts in countries like Hungary, as well as trends such as the increasing scholarly and policy focus on fourth branch institutions such as electoral commissions and the 'deliberative wave' that mark a shift in focus on rights protection and achieving constitutional change from courts to bodies like citizens’ assemblies.
While it’s not a monolithic phenomenon, these disparate but interacting political and scholarly trends raise a host of questions for constitutional lawyers about comparative methodology, constitutional design, and constitutional resilience.
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50min
April 10, 2022 Landmark judgments, constitutional revolutions and comparative constitutional law
The conceptualisation of landmark judgment and constitutional revolution is a topic that is new and to a certain extent quite original. While broadly used by scholars, lawmakers and the judiciary, until recently these two concepts have never received adequate theorisation in comparative constitutional law. In this episode, our guests, Eleonora Bottini and Yaniv Roznai, share their insights on their recent work in this area, from how they got interested in the subject, to the points of connection between the two concepts, including the challenges they have encountered when engaging in such definitional endeavour.
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42min
April 10, 2022 Arab Constitutionalism: An Interview with Zaid Al Ali
Constitutional Café returns for a second season with an interview on a bold new book. Zaid Al Ali, Senior Programme Officer for International IDEA, joins Adrienne Stone to discuss his book, (2021) that examines the 2011 uprisings that swept across the Arab world in 2011. The conversation ranges widely over the nature of constitutional making, the idea of constitutional revolution and delves into the particular challenges of the Arab region.Arab Constitutionalism: the Coming Revolution
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37min
April 04, 2022 Season 2 Trailer
Constitutional Cafe comes to you from the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the Melbourne Law School. It is a place for scholarly but informal and fun conversations about constitutions and constitutional law with a global focus. If COVID has kept you from academic travel and you have been missing informal academic conversations, join us. We will bring those conversations to you. For more information, visit www.constitutional-cafe.org
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3min
April 11, 2021 Post-Soviet Eurasian Constitutionalism
This podcast explores constitutional law in the understudied world of post-Soviet Eurasia. The discussion between the three guests – who are themselves both scholars and advocates based in three different countries in the region— demonstrates both the diversity of the region and the critical importance of constitutional law in the region for democratic development. The podcast also demonstrates the important theoretical lessons that Eurasia holds for better understanding the relationship between constitutional law and democratic governance. In particular, Eurasia helps us understand the impact of post-colonialism, history, and populism on the success of the project of constitutionalism.
For more information on the topics discussed in this episode visit www.constitutional-cafe.org
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1h 10min
April 11, 2021 Constitutional Dimensions of Academic Freedom
‘Academic freedom’ is an idea close to the hearts of all constitutional scholars. But what are the constitutional dimensions of the principle? Given recent attacks on academic freedom in democracies as well authoritarian regimes, a better understanding is urgently required. In this episode, we discuss the protection of academic freedom as a principle of constitutional law, its relationship to other constitutional rights and consider what it requires of us as constitutional scholars. We are joined by three distinguished scholars: Ann-Katrin Kaufhold, Renata Uitz and Liora Lazarus.
For more information on the topics discussed in this episode visit www.constitutional-cafe.org
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1h

FAQs about Constitutional Cafe:

How many episodes does Constitutional Cafe have?

The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.