Comment The Culture of Constitutionalism

Abstract

Where as a constitution embodies the terms of the social contract which the people of a country become a part of, constitutionalism represents the manner in which constitution is implemented, accepted and responded to, and made use of in the society. Moreover, while the merit of a constitution lies in how appropriately it represents and addresses the needs of the society, the measure of the success of constitutionalism is the level of its permeation in the culture and lifestyle of the people. As far as Pakistan is concerned, the country has had a very chequered constitutional history. Apart from interim and provisional constitutional arrangements, Pakistan experienced three constitutions adopted in 1956, 1962 and 1973. Of these, the earlier two were short lived, the last has survived despite being suspended and put in abeyance for significant periods of time. As against the earlier two, the last one was made by elected representatives of the people and was adopted unanimously. These merits of the constitution enabled it to be backed by the people and the political class during times when it was tried to be mutilated. Its weaknesses were also apparent even to its most adherent supporters. The 18th Amendment in the constitution introduced in 2010, addressed many of these weaknesses and made it more democratic and devolved.