Explaining constitutional change: making sense of cross-national variation among European Union member states

Abstract:

This study examines how European Union member states have undertaken constitutional change to adjust to the new conditions that follow from membership in this supranational organization. The article seeks to explain what factors determine why constitutional reform induced by EU membership is sometimes brought about by changing the wording of the constitutional document (explicit change), and sometimes by changing the meaning of the constitution while leaving the constitutional text itself unaltered (implicit change). The current study provides new insights regarding constitutional change by formulating and testing a number of rival hypotheses about what explains cross-national variation in the use of different methods for achieving constitutional reform. The results show that three factors stand out as important determinants for EU-induced constitutional change: constitutional rigidity; public opinion; and the number of cabinet parties.