SSF Convention
On August 7th, 2009, Sociologists without Borders will have a Constitutional Convention in San Francisco to revise the US Constitution. Why? The US Constitution has never been updated as other constitutions have to encompass what we understand to be fundamental human rights, such as the right to education, labor rights, the rights of women and minorities, and on and on and on. Besides, the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations have constitutional personhood rights making the Constitution a vehicle for the protection of wealth and capitalist enterprises.
Revising a constitution is not as difficult as one might suppose. The framers and revisers of constitutions draw from other constitutions and so should we.. There is remarkable similarity among all constitutions with regard to human rights and many draw from international human rights law. Few sociologists have the background to attempt to propose changes in government structure (although some do), but we do know a lot that is relevant for, say, housing rights, labor rights, etc.
The most accessible source for constitutions is University of Richmond Law School's page. There are other sources as well, including countries’ individual pages.
It is also helpful to look at the Human Rights Charters and Treaties of regions:
Asian Human Rights Charter
European Charter of Fundamental Rights
Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women
Organization of American States Human Rights Treaties
Other useful sources are international human rights laws: UN treaties and UNESCO's Convention on Cultural Diversity.
For reference,
US Constitution
If we want to work towards an edited book, we should have deadlines.
April 1 – deadline for marshalling supporting evidence (sociological studies, other constitutions)
June 1 – proposals for all amendments
All participants must be members of SSF. You may join online (If you are member of the SSF Think Tank the same user id will work).
The groups are: (clickable links)
Civil & Political Rights (including
nondiscrimination) Blog
Vulnerable Groups (e.g., children, disabled, elderly, migrants)
Blog
Economic and Social Rights
Blog
Cultural Rights
Blog
Environmental Sustainability and Common Goods
Blog