THE LAW MATTERS

: THE ROLE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN THE SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATION OF POLITIES.

Abstract

This is a comparative study in the field of constitutional law that examines and accounts for the processes of systemic change as evidenced in the development of the constitutions of Ireland and Poland through the lens of path dependency theory. The methodological explanatory tools applied in this thesis have enabled the demonstration of how and why history and law matters in the contemporary constitutional settlements of Ireland and Poland.

The thesis draws on path dependency methodologies to identify the antecedent events, critical junctures, self-reinforcing sequences, intervening events, the role of human agency and the locking-in of the choices freely selected or imposed by the proponents and opponents of change that led to the enactment of the 1937 Constitution of the Republic of Ireland and the 1997 Constitution of the Third Republic of Poland.

Poland and Ireland were selected as case studies because of the similarities and differences in their histories. Both are Catholic states where the Catholic Church is a powerful pressure institution, both experienced the domination by their neighbours but in the case of Ireland there was no history of independent statehood whereas in the case of Poland there were Polish constitutional reference points.

This is the first study of its kind that compares the trajectories of negotiated constitutional change and the role constitutional law in Poland and Ireland through the lens of path dependency theory and as such contributes towards a better understanding and capacity to account for the relationship between history and the law and specifically constitutional law. The thesis demonstrates that path dependency is an effective explanatory tool to account for the constitutional status quo.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Edge Hill University
Supervisor	ANDREA CATTANEO (Supervisor) & RICHARD PARRISH (Director of Studies)