Talking Constitutions

This episode explores the adversarial nature of contemporary politics, considering its causes, its bad effects, and also what its benefits may be. Discussants are Wendy Chamberlain, MP for N.E. Fife and the Liberal Democrats’ Chief Whip and Spokesperson for Work and Pensions; Stephen Gethins, formerly an MP at Westminster and the Scottish National Party’s Front Bench Spokesman for International Affairs and Europe; currently acting Vice-Principal (International Affairs) at the University of St Andrews; and Daniel Greenberg, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (since 1 January 2023).

The subject of this episode is ‘Historical Constitutions’. Discussants are Jill Harries (Professor Emerita of Ancient History, University of St Andrews), Colin Kidd (Professor of Modern History, University of St Andrews) and Harshan Kumarasingham (Senior Lecturer in British Politics, University of Edinburgh and co-convenor of Arthur Berriedale Keith Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism). The episode is chaired by John Hudson (Professor of Legal History, University of St Andrews).

The subject of this episode is ‘Space, law and constitutions’, considering the laws and institutions that shape a wide variety of activities beyond the earth. Discussants are Timiebi Aganaba (science advisory board member of the SETI institute and Assistant Professor of Space and Society in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, where she is also on the Law School Faculty), Adam Bower (Senior Lecturer in the International Relations at the University of St Andrews), and Michael Byers (Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia). The episode is chaired by John Hudson (Professor of Legal History, University of St Andrews). [Note: This episode was recorded on 15 February 2022, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.]

The subject of this episode is ‘Exporting Constitutions’, considering how constitutions and constitutional ideas have been transported or transferred from their place of origin to a new one. Discussants are Harshan Kumarasingham (Senior Lecturer in British Politics, University of Edinburgh and co-convenor of Arthur Berriedale Keith Forum on Commonwealth Constitutionalism.), Anthony Lang (Professor of International Political Theory, University of St Andrews and one of the founding editors of the scholarly journal, Global Constitutionalism) and Nicola McEwen (Professor of Territorial Politics; Co-Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change, University of Edinburgh; and Senior Research Fellow with the ESRC initiaitive, UK in a Changing Europe). The episode is chaired by John Hudson (Professor of Legal History, University of St Andrews).

The subject of this episode is ‘Advisors and Constitutions’, considering why rulers - past and present - have advisors and whether special advisors pose a threat to constitutional rule. Discussants are Ali Ansari, Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, Senior Associate Fellow at Royal United Services Institute and currently an AHRC/ESRC FCDO Fellow at the Foreign Office; Caroline Humfress, Director of the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research, University of St Andrews; and Jacqueline Rose, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of St Andrews and co-editor of Political Advice: Past, Present and Future (I.B. Taurus, 2021). John Hudson, Professor of Legal History at the University of St Andrews, chairs the discussion.

The subject of this topical episode is ‘Devolved Powers and Emergencies’, exploring how emergencies test constitutional arrangements concerning devolved powers and how such constitutional arrangements might be improved. Discussants are: Jim Gallagher, a former Civil Servant, who headed the Scottish justice department. He was the UK government’s most senior adviser on devolution and other constitutional issues, working in the Cabinet office and the number 10 policy unit under Gordon Brown. He was secretary of the UK civil contingencies committee and in charge of emergency planning in Scotland; Stephen Gethins, who worked in the NGO Sector specialising in peace-building, arms control and democracy in the Caucasus and the Balkans regions. He has been an MP at Westminster and the Scottish National Party’s Front Bench Spokesman for International Affairs and Europe; and Catherine Stihler, who was a Labour Member of the European Parliament for 20 years and is now Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons. Chairing the discussion is Ian Duncan, who was a Conservative Member of the European Parliament and more recently the UK Government’s Climate Minister. Having been ennobled as a working peer in 2017, he is now Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.

The subject of this episode is 'Written Constitutions', examining the advantages and disadvantages of written and unwritten constitutions, in theory and in practice. Discussants are Lorna Drummond QC (Sheriff in Tayside, Central and Fife, sitting at Dundee Sheriff Court, Sheriff of the Sheriff Appeal Court, and Temporary High Court Judge and Justice of the Court of Appeal of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha); Jim Gallagher (former Civil Servant, headed the Scottish justice department and was the UK government’s most senior adviser on devolution and other constitutional issues); Don Herzog (Edson R. Sunderland Professor of Law at the University of Michigan) and John Hudson (Professor of Legal History, University of St Andrews).