Why the New Constitution Matters

Abstract

In every country, there are certain objectives for having a new constitution. One of the most common objects why the people desire a new constitution is that the people wish to make a fresh start in the prevailing system of governance by breaking up with the past. The circumstances in which a breakup with the past and the desire for a fresh start may come about vary from country to country. The historical instances which show how and when the desire or need for a fresh start arose commonly include the achievement of independence from an empire or colony, a category to which the best examples to be drawn would be the constitutions of the USA, India, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, to name a few. A revolution in order to make the break with the past or circumstances lead the people to desire formation of a new form of government on new forms of principles of governance, as exemplified by the French constitution of 1789, the Russian constitution of 1917 among others. Defeat in war makes the constitution of the government crumble necessitating a fresh start, as discernible in the German Constitution of 1918.