CCD meets EBO, UNFC, and KNUIn September, Center personnel traveled to Thailand to attend meetings with three important Burmese organizations. In Bangkok, the Euro-Burma Office requested the presence of the CCD at an “Expert Consultation on Power-Sharing.” The Government of Burma will soon embark on a political dialogue process with Burma’s ethnic armed groups, and the Euro-Burma Office endeavors to help the ethnic groups design a national dialogue process by becoming more informed about federalism. Likewise, Center personnel were invited to Chiang Mai to meet with the United Nationalities Federal Council and the Karen National Union, to help them prepare for the upcoming negotiations with the government. JD affiliates Tara Paul and Brady Harman also attended the meetings and conducted interviews with key members of the ethnic resistance. Now back in Bloomington, Center personnel are drafting memos in response to questions and concerns raised by the UNFC and KNU.

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David and Susan Williams meet with the Central Executive Committee of the Karen National Union.

Left to right: JD affiliate Tara Paul, Susan Williams, Naw Zipporah Sein, and David Williams. Ms. Sein is secretary general of the Karen National Union and former coordinator and executive secretary of the Karen Women’s Organization. She has been called a heroine by PoliticalHeroes.org.

Left to right: Ni Hong Sa, joint general secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council and of the New Mon state party; David Williams; and Colonel Hkun Okker, joint general secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council and Chairman of the Pa-Oh National Liberation Organization.

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PhD fellow Nadjeda Mazur traveled to Moldova recently to work on her dissertation.

PhD fellow meets officials in Moldova In August, PhD fellow Nadejda Mazur traveled to Moldova for fieldwork. She primarily conducted research in the National Library, but also had meetings with some high-ranking officials in the Moldovan government and unrecognized Transnistria. During those meetings, Mazur asked officials to answer a questionnaire about the relationship between the unrecognized constitution and the recognition of Transnistria. This research will contribute to Mazur’s dissertation, forthcoming in summer 2014.

International law scholar Koh visits CCD

On September 12, Yale professor and former legal advisor to the U.S. Department of State Harold Koh delivered a lecture at the CCD entitled “The War Powers and Libya.” The lecture explored whether President Obama acted lawfully under domestic and international law in using force in Libya, and the implications of the domestic and international legal justifications that he offered at that time for possible military action today in Syria.

In assessing U.S. action in Libya, Koh argued that “We had testimony from soldiers on the ground, Qadafi’s troops, that said they had orders to kill civilians, deliberately. All of the international bodies of the human rights investigation made it clear that there were no rules of engagement and that Qadafi was planning a massive attack on Benghazi. And we were running out of time.” Koh finished by saying that “in Libya, I think it was clearly lawful under international law. I think it was lawfully initiated and lawfully continued.”

Susan Williams introduces Prof. Harold Koh during his recent visit to the Center.

CCD designs first-ever academically instituted public consultation process for Liberia

In May the Constitutional Review Committee of Liberia invited the CCD to act as official advisors to the constitutional review process, which will take place in the next 18 months. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is in her final term, has stated her intention to limit the currently overreaching powers of Liberia’s executive branch. That issue, along with many others, is under consideration by the committee.

The CRC has asked the CCD to assist with a process of public consultation which will increase the public’s engagement with the reform process. This is the first time in history that an academic institution has been invited to design a consultation process of this kind. The goal of the public constitution process is to gather information about the needs and desires of the people of Liberia in order to assist the Constitutional Review Committee with the design of amendments responsive to the people’s needs, and then to provide public education about the final proposed amendments so the people can cast informed votes in the referendum that is required at the end of the process The Center has developed guidelines to ensure that the process is welcoming and inclusive for all of Liberia’s people, including women, youth, the disabled, and rural people who do not speak English.

The consultations are currently delayed, but Center personnel are hopeful that they might happen early in 2014. In the meantime, Center personnel are working on scholarship about the process of designing these kinds of consultations that may be of use to other governments in the future.

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CCD awarded Women’s Philanthropy Council grant The IU Women’s Philanthropy Council has awarded the CCD a grant to support student travel during the 2013-14 academic year. Several opportunities arise throughout the year for student affiliates to travel with Center staff and assist with constitutional advising, allowing them to put their academic research to work in the real world in ways that lead to real change. This fieldwork enables IU students to have a global impact, improving the lives of people in many countries. The Women’s Philanthropy Council grant paid for CCD JD affiliate Tara Paul and managing affiliate Brady Harman to visit Thailand in September, and will pay for two more students to go on an advising trip in Spring 2014. During their time in Thailand, they met with Hkun Okker (center, above), the Joint General Secretary of the United Nationalities Federal Council.

Retired U.S. Army colonel joins Center for Constitutional DemocracyColonel Rick Welch has joined the CCD as a PhD fellow He is a doctoral student in law and democracy, and plans to focus his general research and field work on strengthening the democratization of Iraq. This work includes effective constitutional design as a key foundational pillar; promoting human rights and criminal justice reform; and developing and promoting conflict resolution and national political reconciliation programs.

Welch received his BS with distinction in police administration at Eastern Kentucky University. He also received a minor in military science and was the Distinguished Military Graduate of the R.O.T.C. program. Additionally, he holds a JD from Capital University, and MA in theology from Cincinnati Christian University, and an MSS in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. During his civilian career , Welch has worked in various sectors implementing, enforcing, and supporting rule of law in the fields of law enforcement, civil and criminal law, and as an elected prosecuting attorney. As a military officer, he has participated in or supported campaigns to initiate, restore or support democratic initiatives around the world, including in Vietnam, Haiti, and the Balkans. Most recently, he served in Iraq, where he was a key military advisor and liaison to local, provincial, and national political groups helping build and develop governance capacity. He also served as a key interlocutor in conflict resolution dialogue with armed groups and as chief of the national reconciliation section in Baghdad that supported national political reconciliation among the various ethno-sectarian, religious, tribal, political, exiled and armed opposition groups. Welch is a doctoral student in law and democracy and plans to focus his general research and field work on strengthening the democratization of Iraq, including effective constitutional design as a key foundational pillar.

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Shown above is the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. This is the view from the hotel where Center for Constitutional Democracy personnel met rencently with members of the Euro Burma Office.

A view from Bangkok

Colonel Rick Welch has joined the Center as a PhD fellow.

Recent work by Center leadership

David Williams will soon publish a book chapter entitled, “What’s So Bad about the Burmese Constitution of 2008? A Guide for the Perplexed.” The chapter will appear in a book about the current political situation in Burma. It canvases the various problems with the current constitution, arguing that the military’s continuing role in politics is both more extensive than is generally understood and also only one problem among many.

Susan Williams attended a conference sponsored by the International Association of Constitution Law in Italy in October in celebration of the 500th anniversary of Machiavelli’s book, The Prince. She presented a paper entitled, “Machiavelli, Feminist Theory and Constitutional Design,” in which she applied a Machiavellian interpretation of feminist theory in epistemology to the issue of electoral gender quotas in constitutional design. She also finished the editorial process on her book, Social Difference and Constitutionalism in Pan-Asia, which will be published by Cambridge University Press late this year. The book is a collection of essays based on a conference organized by the Center at IU in 2011.

Feisal Istrabadi’s recent work includes “Sectarian War a Two-Way Street for Iraq and Syria,” Al-Monitor, May 28, 2013; and“Iraq: 2014 and Beyond,” a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., on September 25, 2013. He also participated in a panel titled “Constitution-making in Iraq” at the Annual Conference of the Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism held at the University of Pennsylvania on May 3, 2013; and at a Pan Asia Institute Conference titled “Engaging Enemies: North Korea and Iran,” held at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and Indiana University — Bloomington. He also spoke on “Strategies for Engaging Iran” (lecture) and “Opportunities for Engagement: Iran and Other Cases” (panelist) (April 18-19, 2013).

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Democracy in Action is published semi-annually by the Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. For more information, visit ccd.indiana.edu. © 2013 The Trustees of Indiana University.

CCD fall 2013 seminar schedule

September 12: “The War Powers and Libya” Harold Koh, Yale Law SchoolSeptember 13: “Abusive Constitutionalism” David Landau, University of FloridaSeptember 26: “Barack Obama’s War on Terror” Bill Scheuerman, IU Department of Political ScienceOctober 24: “Renegade Royalist: Anti-Monarchical Politics in Thai History” Tamara Loos, Cornell UniversityOctober 31: “Crisis in Middle East: The Case of Syria” Abdal-Razzaq Moaz, former deputy minister in SyriaNovember 7: “The Peace Agreement Challenge: Negotiating Peace and Making a New Constitution” Cindy Daase, Indiana University Jerome Hall Fellow (Law 120)November 21: “Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes” Tom Ginsburg, University of Chicago (Law School room 124) For more information, visit ccd.indiana.edu.