More than half of the world's population lives in cities; by 2050, it will be more than three quarters. Projections suggest that megacities of 50 million or even 100 million inhabitants will emerge by the end of the century, mostly in the Global South. This shift marks a major and unprecedented transformation of the organization of society, both spatially and geopolitically. Our constitutional institutions and imagination, however, have failed to keep pace with this new reality. Cities have remained virtually absent from constitutional law and constitutional thought, not to mention from comparative constitutional studies more generally. As the world is urbanizing at an extraordinary rate, this book argues, new thinking about constitutionalism and urbanization is desperately needed. In six chapters, the book considers the reasons for the "constitutional blind spot" concerning the metropolis, probes the constitutional relationship between states and (mega)cities worldwide, examines
patterns of constitutional change and stalemate in city status, and aims to carve a new place for the city in constitutional thought, constitutional law and constitutional practice.
Industry Reviews
"...Hirschl deserves much praise in bringing to the fore a topic that should not have stayed in the shadows for so long. City, State: Constitutionalism and the Megacity raises tough questions and forces us to confront them head-on. This is a field-defining bookDLthe results of which are already evident within the short period since this book's launch (and even before)." -- Amal Sethi, Publius: The Journal of Federalism
"After a series of important books, Ran Hirschl has turned his attention to the constitutional status of cities. In City, State, he reveals a resounding constitutional 'silence' as to the status of cities in the old constitutional systems of Europe and North America and a contrasting level of focus and innovation in the Global South. Hirschl persuasively argues that the constitutional empowerment of cities holds promise for the great social problems of
our day including representational fairness, socio-economic inequality and climate change. Delving deep into the fundamentals of the field, City, State challenges orthodox assumptions of constitutionalism and
lays out new, rich veins of inquiry that will be influential for decades to come." -- Adrienne Stone, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
"Transformative scholarship from the master of scholarly transformations and seminal studies. Ran Hirschl details how the state and provincial borders that structure constitutional law fail to capture the urban-rural divide that structures much constitutional politics, a divide Hirschl demonstrates that in regime after regime disempowers and impoverishes the places where the vast majority of the world's population lives." -- Mark A. Graber, Regents Professor,
University of Maryland Carey School of Law
"Even though global cities have grown dramatically in size and importance, most constitutions - and hence legal scholars - have paid almost no attention to them. Hirschl's impressive, timely, and wide-ranging book fills a large hole in the literature. It explains why the economic strength of cities has so often been accompanied by weakness in the constitutional order, and then explores conditions under which urban residents have been able to carve out some
constitutional autonomy, especially in developing countries. This book will be of great interest to legal scholars, social scientists, and urbanists." -- Jonathan Rodden, Professor of Political Science,
Stanford University; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
"Ran Hirschl has written an important and provocative book that touches upon a core question of constitutional law... It is a powerful, enjoyable work that will force readers to consider the impact of exogenous factors such as population growth." -- Mark Rush, Law and Politics Book Review
